RWBY: Phynix Rising
by Orion Phynix
Summary: Orion, a explorer/drifter in Remnant, has arrived in the city of Vale after travelling for a year. When he is given an opportunity to broaden his experience at Beacon Academy, how can he refuse? My first RWBY fanfic with my very own OC, so please R&R.
1. Chapter 1- A New Dawn

My first attempt at a RWBY fanfic after a long hiatus due to work piling up. Please Read and Review.

 _Italics- Thoughts/Quotes_

Regular-Dialogue and descriptions

* * *

 _The Night is always darkest before the Dawn… But the Light will always rise to face it, like a phoenix from the ashes..._

The City of Vale, one of the four great kingdoms of Remnant. A city that stood as one of Humanity's greatest accomplishments for its ability to persevere and thrive through the decades. It's also home to one of many prestigious academies in all of Remnant, Beacon Academy.

In the commercial district of Vale, a young man, who didn't look any older than the average seventeen year old, was walking along one of its many streets at night. As he continued to roam the sparsely populated city street, the chilly wind blew through, ruffling his messy, sunny orange hair, most of which was held back by the pair of black rimmed goggles atop his head.

As his dark brown cloak fluttered slightly in the wind, one could even see the bright orange long-sleeved turtleneck shirt he wore underneath. His deep-crimson pants were tucked into his dark brown combat boots, which made soft thudding sounds as he strolled across the street.

Soft clinking noises could be even heard from his haversack as it shifted left and right while he snaked through oncoming people.

"Hm..., I know that dust shop has to be around here somewhere. C'mon Orion, you can't be that terrible at directions after this long..." The young man muttered to himself as he wandered aimlessly through the streets, trying to reach his destination. "Oh, there it is!" He exclaimed as he came upon a simple shop, its signboard read 'From Dust Till Dawn'.

"Yes, something you need, young man?" The old man at the counter asked as he walked into the shop.

"Yes, do you happen to sell Dust in vials?"

"Hmm... Rarely find youngsters who buy them in that fashion... Fortunately, there should be some in one of the back shelves. Go fill'em with the dust from those dispensers over there, and I'll check the prices for you." The old man replied, pointing to the dust dispensers in the corner of the shop.

"Thanks." Orion said as he quickly went to the back shelves, coming back around with a set of vials. As he stood in front of the dispensers with his back facing the counter, the old man squinted his eyes to get a better look of the emblem imprinted on his cloak. It was in the shape of a red and orange Phoenix with its wings folded in.

"Hmm... That's a rather unique design you've got, young man. A family crest?" The old shopkeeper asked.

"Sort of..." The young man replied as he headed back to the counter with the vials in hand. He was finishing his payment for it when he was rudely pushed aside.

"Hey! Excuse me, I was..." He was going to finish his sentence until he looked up at a rather shady looking fellow. That person had ginger-colored hair combed to one side, most of it tucked underneath his black bowler hat. He wore a white suit, in contrast with his black gloves, pants and formal shoes.

Ash fell from the cigar in his mouth as he stepped in front of the counter, a cane tucked under his arm. That man was being accompanied by a bunch of other men in black suits, giving the impression that he was the leader of some mafia gang.

"Beat it, kid... I've got some business to take care of." The guy said in a low tone of voice before turning to the shopkeeper.

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?" He said in a sarcastic voice as his goons drew their guns at the old man.

"Please... Just take my Lien and leave..." The old man pleaded with his hands in the air. "Shh... Calm down, we're not here for your money. Grab the Dust." He told his goons as they headed towards the Dust dispensers with canisters in hand. Another one went up to the counter with a case and ordered the old shopkeeper to hand over some dust crystals.

The young man was taken aback. An armed robbery was happening before his eyes! He started to slow back away, hoping they wouldn't notice him.

Unfortunately, one of the men there spotted him and pointed his firearm at his direction. "Hold it! Fork over the Dust you just bought." He threatened the young man, a rather menacing look plastered on his face. The young man quietly put his hands up, the vials in his left hand.

"Come now, surely there's no need to use force. I mean, Dust isn't exactly very cheap, but they're still affordable. You could just buy some and..."

"I didn't ask for your opinion, kid, so zip it!" The armed gunman shouted at him, aiming the handgun up towards the young man's head.

"Okay okay, but it would be better for everyone if you didn't go and..."

"I said quiet! Or I'm gonna shoot!" The gunman yelled before he saw one of his buddies was sent flying from the back of the shop. The leader motioned for that gunman to go and take care of the little problem. "Damn... you got lucky, kid! Just stay put and we won't hurt you too bad." He said as he ran over to check out the situation. The young man heaved a sigh of relief before seeing that guy being sent flying through the front display window by a red blur.

As the people inside the shop peered through the hole in the glass window, it turned out that the red blur was actually a girl dressed in a red hood with a matching black corset and skirt with red trimmings. In her left hand was a large rifle that unfolded to reveal an even larger scythe blade. She looked back at the store before achoring her scythe into the ground, waiting for the next unfortunate person to come out and confront her.

"Okay... Well GET HER." The leader said to his remaining men and they immediately rushed out with weapons in hand. But that turned out to be a big mistake as the girl skillfully used her agility and the weight of her gun scythe to beat them down in a matter of seconds.

The leader stepped out to check on the devastation that was dished out on his men. The young man took this opportunity to check on the old shopkeeper. "You doing all right?" He asked the old man, who slowly nodded. "That girl might need some help. Just stay inside, okay?" He said as he rushed out, only to see a large explosion on the street followed by the girl landing on her feet.

"Where did that guy...?" She quickly looked around the vicinity. He immediately noticed that mafia leader was escaping up an access ladder to a nearby rooftop. "Over there!" He said, drawing the girl's attention to the fleeing criminal. Then they turned their attention to the old man who had stumbled towards the the doorway on his rather shaky legs. "You okay if we go after him?" She asked, getting a nod of approval from him before going after the criminal. That was when one of the attackers near him had gotten back to his feet and was aiming his pistol at the unsuspecting red hooded girl.

"Look out!" Orion exclaimed, rushing straight at the shooter as he drew out something from his back. It was a shield in the form of a red and yellow phoenix with its wings folded in. Using his forward momentum, he rammed into the guy at full force, causing him to lose focus as he tumbled back a few steps. Before the shooter had a chance to recover, his shield opened up to form a bow with a orange translucent arrowhead at the tip. The young man pointed the bow at his upper body and immediately let loose several shots in rapid succession.

Each arrow pinned him to the wall behind him through different parts of his suit. "You're going nowhere, my friend. So stick around awhile, okay?" The young man remarked before chasing after the girl, who had used the blast from her rifle to propel her up to the rooftop. " _Need a faster way up there. Think, Orion, think!"_ He quickly launched a series of arrows along the side of the building, forming an improvised stepladder. "This had better work..." He muttered under his breath as he dashed up the stepladder of arrows and made his way to the top.

They both landed on the edge of the building, with weapons ready. "Hey!" She yelled as the criminal stopped when he was on the other end of the building. "Surrender yourself! There's nowhere on this roof to run!" Orion added, aiming his bow at the man.

"Persistent..." The man muttered as he turned around. As if on cue, a grey Bullhead transport just popped in behind, flying close enough for that man to climb aboard.

"End of the line, Red!" The man called out as he threw back a fire Dust crystal at them before firing a blast from his cane. "Get down!" Orion shouted, jumping in front of the girl while collapsing his bow back into its shield form, bracing himself for the impact.

But, the blast wave never came. Peering over his shield, he noticed he was staring at the back of what appeared to be a woman with light-blonde hair tied back in a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face. From he could see, she wore a pair of thin ovular glasses, along with a set of teal hanging earrings with a small bead. She was dressed in a white long-sleeved suit, with puffy sleeves that tightened near her wrists before spreading back out over her hands.

Her black business skirt and a pair of lighter black-brown stockings hugged onto her form tightly while she stood poised for combat. Draped over her shoulders was a tattered cape that is purple inside and black on the outside, decorated by a row of diamond-shaped brown beads going horizontally across it. Emblazoned on her cape appeared to an emblem of a tiara. In her right hand was a riding crop, which he assumed was a weapon.

She had apparently put up a sort of barrier which took the brunt of the hit, leaving them completely unscathed. Dropping the barrier, she waved her crop and began relentlessly attack the Bullhead with volleys of energy projectiles.

She followed her initial assault with large ice shards from a gigantic storm cloud that she created out of thin air. Looking closely at the Bullhead's open cabin, Orion vaguely spotted a woman standing in the shadows, the only part visible was the crimson dress she wore which had orange glowing lines imprinted around the upper torso and sleeves.

That woman retaliated with a blast of fiery energy at their saviour, which she deflected before dodging away just as a pillar of fire erupted at her feet, destroying part of the rooftop. The blonde woman struck back with a makeshift lance formed from pieces of the rooftop, which she sent flying back at the Bullhead. The lance was smashed to its many pieces as it barely made a dent to the airship but the blonde woman wasn't done. Taking the many pieces that remained, she reformed three smaller projectiles which came back around to attack the Bullhead again.

However, in a blink of an eye, the projectiles were all vaporised by a wave of energy. That was when the red-hooded girl began firing shots at the Bullhead, hoping to somehow stop them. Orion followed her example and started firing volleys of arrows at the Bullhead as well. However, their combined attack proved ineffective in even slowing it down. Then the ground beneath them suddenly lit up, prompting the blonde woman to pull the two young people away before dodging forward just as multiple fire pillars erupted. By the time they had recovered from that, the Bullhead had already fled out of range of their weapons.

The young man sighed in disappointment for failing to stop that criminal. Turning behind him, the young girl stared in awe, " You're a huntress?!" "Can I have your autograph?!" She said a rather audible squeak, as if she was a fangirl meeting a superstar, earning a weird look from the young man.

* * *

"I hope you two realize that your actions tonight will not be taken lightly. You put yourselves and others in great danger." The blonde woman was scolding the two young people. Currently, the two of them were being held in custody in one of the interrogation rooms at the Vale Police Department, the reason being their involvement at the armed robbery of the shop they had just saved.

"They started it!" The girl argued.

"Was it wrong for us to have gotten involved?" Orion asked, turning to the girl.

"That's right, it's not like we did anything wrong. And no one was really hurt, so..." She wanted to continue her sentence, but kept quiet when the woman gave her a stern look.

"It doesn't change the fact that innocent people might have been caught up in that little incident. If it were up to me, both of you would be sent home. With a pat on the back... and a slap on the wrist!" She said sternly as she slapped her riding crop on the table, causing the girl to flinch.

"But there is someone here that would like to meet the two of you." She sighed, before stepping aside to reveal a middle-aged man with a plate of cookies and a mug. The man had grey hair and a pair of tinted glasses which sat upon his nose. He wore a unzipped black suit with a matching black vest and a green undershirt. He had a pair of long, dark green pants and a set of black trouser shoes. He had a dark green scarf wrapped around his neck, with a small purple crossed imprinted on it. This man was none other than Professor Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon Academy, featured in a few news articles regarding Vale's Huntsman and Huntress.

"Ruby Rose..." He said as he looked towards the girl, before shifting his focus to Orion, "... And Orion, I believe."

"Y-Yes sir." Orion replied, scarcely believing his eyes. Why would someone like Professor Ozpin come all the way down to a police station to meet both of them?

Shifting his focus back to Ruby, he stared closely at her face. "You...have silver eyes."

"Errm..." was her reply as she felt awkward from being stared at so intently.

"So tell me, where did you two learn to do this?" He asked, motioning to the screen behind which played a video of what happened in front of the shop.

"Signal Academy.../ Self-taught lessons." They said in unison.

"I see..." He said, placing the cookie plate on the table. "Mr Orion, would you mind if you stepped outside for a few minutes? I'd like to speak to Miss Rose in private."

"Sure, no problem." Orion replied, getting up and leaving the room. After about five to ten minutes, the door opened and Ruby walked out with a joyful look on her face. "Hey, Ruby is it? What happened in there? You look like you just won the lottery."

"Oh, umm... Orion right? Nothing too serious... just that THEY OFFERED ME A SPOT IN BEACON ACADEMY! I'M SO EXCITED! I ALWAYS WANTED TO ENROLL THERE, AND NOW PROFESSOR OZIPIN COMES AND GIVES ME A CHANCE TO STUDY THERE! OH MY GOD, I GOTTA TELL YANG! GOTTA GO, BYE!" And with that, she disappeared in a flash of red, leaving behind a trail of rose petals.

"Well now, she's certainly quite easily excitable for a girl her age..." Ozpin said as he stepped out just as Ruby had left the corridor. "Now then young man, there's a matter I'd like to discuss with you in private. Let's continue this inside, shall we?"

Nodding in agreement, Orion quickly strode back into the room and waited at the table. He noticed that the blonde woman from before wasn't present, but brushed aside that thought as he took his seat. Both sat at the table for a good two minutes, before Orion felt the need to start the conversation.

"Umm. Professor? What exactly did you need to talk to me about?" He asked, hoping to get the conversation moving.

Looking down at the Scroll in his hands, he finally spoke. "Hmm... To be frank, I've done a little digging regarding your personal records." Orion froze at the mention of his background. _Did he find out who Orion really was?_ "... I must say, I am impressed with your talents, even the parts that most folk wouldn't know. So why would someone of your ability choose to leave behind his previous life and become a wanderer?"

 _Yup, he definitely knew._

"W-Well, sir... is it alright to keep this conversation confidential?" Orion asked.

"Don't worry, young man. This conversation is completely off the record..." Ozpin replied, putting down his scroll.

After his lengthy conversation with the headmaster, he was finally released from custody and allowed to leave. As he left the premises, the two adults stood at the entrance and watched him be on his way. The blonde woman turned to Ozpin and asked, "Ozpin, are you postive about your decision regarding that boy?"

"You know as well as I do, Glynda. I'm merely granting him an opportunity. The final decision is ultimately his to make." Ozpin replied with a slight smile on his face.

"I'm not quite following your train of thought here. Why would you even give him that choice? From what I've gathered, he doesn't even possess the proper qualifications to enroll here." She argued, looking through the data on her scroll.

"His experience in the field makes up for his lack of qualifications. Remember, experience is sometimes a better teacher than what can learnt from a classroom."

"Is that so? I assume your conversation with him was informative?"

"Quite, but I'm afraid I'm not inclined to divulge any of the details to you. I promised him that much after all. Besides, I'm a great judge of character. You'll just have to trust me on this."

"Oh dust, fine... Not like I could ever change your mind once it's been made up. But I'll be keeping a close eye on that one. If he turns out to be a major hindrance to the school, I'll have him booted out, no questions asked."

"I wouldn't have it any other way, Glynda."

* * *

And that concludes my first chapter. Will Orion take this chance given to him? Stay tuned to my next chapter- First Step. And remember, any helpful tips on making this better is appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2- First Step

Chapter 2- First Step

"... *Sigh*... I hope this decision is something I'm not going to regret." Orion muttered, staring out of the window. He was onboard an airship that was destined for Beacon Academy. He was surprised to see so many others on the same flight, proving just how prestigious the school was.

He was listening to the news telecast on the criminal he encountered, Roman Torchwick, as well as a report on the rise in activity from the White Fang, an extremist group that comprised of mainly Faunus.

The news telecast was cut short by a holographic speech given by the same blonde woman he had met yesterday, who introduced herself as Glynda Goodwitch. Once it was over, Orion returned to watch the scenery below, but was distracted by a rather loud commotion behind him.

"EW, YANG! GROSS! YOU'VE GOT PUKE ON YOUR SHOE! GROSS! GROSS! GROSS! GROSS! GET AWAY FROM ME! OH GET AWAY FROM ME!" A familiar voice yelled out before he found himself being tackled to the ground by a red blur. As he tried to recover, he noticed it was the same red-hooded girl he met yesterday who ran into him at ramming speed and was now lying face flat on him. A little embarrassed at the close proximity with the girl, he tried to pick himself up.

"Ow... Who put that wall in front of me?" The young teen asked.

"Ahem, well... For starters, I'm not a wall." He replied.

"Oh sorry! Sorry! Didn't see you there... Wait, aren't you that guy I met yesterday? Orion's your name, right?" She said as she started rubbing on the sore spot on her head.

"Yeah... Need some help with that?" Orion asked, pointing to her head.

"Thanks, but I'll be fine."

"Ruby! Oh sorry! My little sister can be a klutz sometimes. Ruby, you know you're not supposed to use your speed while we're INSIDE the ship, remember?" A rather tall girl said as she quickly approached them, looking rather concerned.

Her most noticeable features were her long, messy bright-golden hair, which did nothing to hide her lilac eyes, her pale skin as well as her large chest that was mostly covered by her yellow low-cut crop top with a black crest that resembles a burning heart.

Her tan vest, which hugged around her chest tightly, had rather puffy cap sleeves with black cuffs. Shifting his attention down, a brown belt with a buckle, a pouch, and a small banner-like object hung from her waist.

She wore black shorts, over which she had a white asymmetrical back skirt, which showed off a lot of her pale skin. She even had an orange infinity scarf wrapped around her neck.

She walked towards the pair of them in her brown knee-high platform boots that appear to be made of leather, with orange socks of different lengths. Tied to to top of her left boot was a sort of gray bandanna that fluttered through the air as she moved. She offered out both hands, which were covered by fingerless black gloves, and helped up the duo.

"I know... Oh, right. Yang! This is the guy I was talking about yesterday. He's the one who was helped me out when I tried to catch that Torchwick guy!"

"Um...Hi, miss...?"

"Oh, don't be such a stiff! You can call me Yang! And any friend of my sister is a friend in my book!" She said, wrapping one arm around Ruby's neck.

"All right... wait, you two are sisters? I don't really see the resemblance..."

"Oh, that... well it's kind of a long story. But in short, we're just half sisters. We've got different Moms, but we have the same Dad!" Yang responded, fiddling with her long golden-blonde hair.

"Yup, and he is the most awesome Dad in the world!"

"Is that so? Well, it's nice to know that you and your family gets along..." Orion said, before turning his head and muttering to himself, "Not like mine..."

"So... Orion, you just enrolled into Beacon too?" Yang asked.

"You could say that... Still can't believe I'm here though. It feels too good to be true."

"Well, ya better start believing it buddy! Cos we're almost there now!"

"Yeah! Just a few more minutes and we'll be... Ew, Yang! You still got that guy's puke on your boot! Do something about it, will you?!" Ruby yelled with a grossed-out look on her face.

"Okay okay, Sis. Don't need to get your hood tied in a bunch. I'll go wash it out, hopefully along with the stink. Smell ya later!" Yang said before snickering to herself. "Hehe... Smell ya later... Now, that's a good one."

As the duo watched Yang walk away to find the bathroom, Orion couldn't help but feel that his life was going to get a lot more interesting being around these people.

* * *

As the airship had finally landed at the docking area outside of Beacon, most of its passengers were all making their way towards the exit.

Orion was also heading towards the exit when a blonde guy rushed past him to reach the trash can outside and started to throw up into it. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the guy was wearing quite average-looking combat attire. A black hoodie and blue pants were worn under a set of simple white armor, only covering the more critical area with arm and knee guards, a single chest plate and a pair of spaulders. Underneath his clothes, he could vaguely see the outline of the guy's toned and muscled body, implying that the guy must have been working out quite a bit.

Swinging from his waist was a simple sword sheathed in a white scabbard with dull yellow trimmings. Judging from its worn down appearance, he guessed that it had seen its fair share of combat over a long time.

Thinking that he should try and help the poor guy, he walked over to him and began rubbing his hand over that guy's back, hoping that it would help to soothe his body.

"Hey, take it easy. Deep breaths now. Let me guess, air sick?"

"Urgh... Kind of... Got a bad case of... *Urk*... motion sickness." The young blonde responded with dread in his voice.

"Don't you have some kind of medication to help with that?"

"Nope, I don't really need it...I'll *Urk* be fine... I'm used to it. Thanks for *Urk* asking though." He said, heaving a few times mid sentence.

"Don't mention it. I'm Orion by the way."

"Ah... that's better. Oh, and my name's Jaune Arc." He replied, wiping his mouth and finally stepping away from the trash can after throwing up into it.

Soon, the pair began making their way from the landing platform to the main academy building with the remaining passengers. However, while most of the people were chatting happily, there was an unsettling silence between the pair as they walked.

"So Jaune, ready to take your first step in becoming a huntsman?" Orion asked, hoping to break the tension. "Maybe... guess I'm just nervous, that's all." He said with his head hanging low.

"Hey, don't worry about it. Everyone's gonna be jittery on their first day." Orion stated.

"Really? You don't look nervous in the least." Jaune pointed out.

"Not true, I'm nervous on the inside." He answered, gesturing toward himself. "But I learnt how to hide it well so I can give others the impression that I'm always in a calm state of mind. You should try it sometime... it may help you somewhere down the line."

"Sure... Thanks for the advice." Jaune said, looking slightly better.

"Anytime, my friend-" Orion was cut off by an explosion that came from somewhere ahead of them. From where he stood, he saw a big black puff of smoke emanating from the central courtyard followed by a shrill voice yelling out loud. It seemed someone had accidentally set off a cloud of Dust, causing an explosion and incidentally covering someone in black soot.

"W-Woah, what was that?! Are we under attack or something?!" Jaune said, startled by the sound.

"No… I don't think so. Sounds more like someone accidentally triggered a Dust explosion in someone else's face and that person is mad about it."

"Shouldn't we do something about it then?"

"Hmm…? There's no need to. It seems like someone else had the same idea and already stepped in."

Looking back in the direction of the explosion, the duo saw that the small group at the epicenter of it had finally dispersed, with a girl dressed in black and white clothing walking in their direction.

As she quickly walked by, Orion was turned to watch the passerby. Her long, dark colored hair that flowed in the wind, which she had adorned with a black bow, were unable to hide the piercing look in her amber eyes. She wore a white undershirt, which exposed part of her midriff, underneath a black buttoned vest with coattails that fluttered through the air.

Black ribbons decorated her arms, with one arm covered by a black detached sleeve and a silver armband. She wore white shorts, in contrast to her black stockings that faded to purple towards her black low-heeled boots. Partially hidden by her hair was a grey cleaver-like broadsword, its hilt designed to double as a pistol. Another long black ribbon, like those wrapped around her arms, was attached to the hilt like some decoration which flowed with the wind.

Before he had a chance to ask anything, the girl had walked out of audible range. "Perhaps it's better to leave her be," he muttered to himself before heading to join up with Jaune, who had just helped a red-hooded girl.

Wait... Red hood? It can't be a coincidence...

"Hey Orion! What kept you?" Jaune asked.

"Oh nothing... Was merely curious about that girl in black earlier." He replied before turning to a slightly dusty-looking Ruby. "I'm more surprised about you, Ruby. Getting into trouble so soon after yesterday's little fiasco?"

"Hey Orion... He he... Yeah, but it was an accident, honest. I didn't MEAN to sneeze and explode like that."

"I'm sure you didn't mean to... Where's your sister Yang?" He asked

"Urgh... She just ditched me out here to meet up with some new friends, right before I exploded!"

"Let's forget about that for now and get a move on, shall we?." He said, hoping to change the subject.

"Sure." The other two said in agreement. The trio then began to walk aimlessly through the school compound.

After a good fifteen minutes of listening to Jaune go on and on about the issue of motion sickness and also a bit about himself, Ruby felt it was time to change the topic.

"So... I have this thing." She said as she whipped out Crescent Rose in its Scythe form, startling the two guys.

"Woah! I-Is that a scythe?" Jaune asked.

"It's also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle." She answered, beaming with pride at her weapon.

"A what...?" Jaune asked again, confused at what she said.

"It's a high calibre firearm, designed to cause maximum damage to long range targets with precision. Very accurate, very deadly..." Orion explained, further baffling the blonde boy.

"Uh... Translation please...?"

"It's also a gun." Ruby clarified, cocking the rifle.

"Oh... That's cool!" Jaune replied.

"So what have you got?" She asked, looking at the sword strapped to Jaune's waist.

"Oh... well, I got this sword," Jaune replied, drawing his sword to let Ruby check it out. It looked to be a rather simple longsword with a blue and yellow hilt. "It's got a shield too!" He took out his stark-white sheathe and it unfolded into a shield form. The shield was basically a rounded triangular shield, with two yellow crescent arcs emblazoned on its white surface.

"Interesting gimmick," Orion commented.

"So what'd they do?" Ruby asked while touching it, triggering something in the shield and making it jump out of his grip.

"Aah!" He exclaimed as he clumsily tried to catch it. Regaining his composure after retrieving it, he continued from where he left off.

"T-The shield gets smaller... so when I get tired of carrying it, I can just... put it away..."

"But wouldn't it weigh the same...?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, it does..." He said, with a look of disappointment on his face.

"Well...he he, I'm a bit of a dork when it comes to weapons... Guess I did go a lil' overboard in designing it."

"Wait, YOU made that?!" Both Jaune and Orion exclaimed.

"Of course, all students at Signal forge their own weapons... Didn't you make yours?" She asked Jaune.

"I-It's a hand-me-down. My great-grandfather used it to fight in the war..." He answered, saddened at the mention of it being something inherited. It looked as if he was bothered that he was using a weapon given to him rather than one that he could have made.

"Sounds more like a family heirloom to me... Well, I like it! Not many have an appreciation for the classics these days."

"Yeah... The classics..." Jaune answered, continuing to look dejectedly at the ground.

"And what about you, Orion? What do you have? I was so focused on catching Torchwick last night, I didn't get a good look at it." Ruby turned the question to Orion, who wasn't too keen on giving her a straight answer.

"Erm... Well, my weapon's a bit unique, to say the least... It was built around the idea of situational adaptability..." Orion replied as he drew it out from under his cloak.

"It's basically a hybrid weapon comprising of a gauntlet-type shield, a sword for close quarters and a bow for long range combat." He explained.

"A sword and a bow? I don't see where the blade's being stowed. I also didn't see any quiver or bowstring."

"Ah... That's a secret..."

"Aw, c'mon! Don't leave me hanging like that. Now I really wanna know!" Ruby pleaded with puppy-dog eyes. However, Orion remained unfazed by it.

"I might tell you... some other time." He said with firmness in his voice. Seeing as he wasn't going to budge on the topic, she relented.

"Right now, I think we'd better go." Orion said, earning a nod from the other two.

As they continued walking down the open path, Ruby restarted her conversation with Jaune.

"So why'd you help me out back there?"

"Meh, why not? Like my mom always said... Strangers are just friends you haven't met."

"Hmm... Hey, where are we going?" She asked.

"Oh, I don't know... I was kind of following you two." Jaune said, as the the trio stopped in their tracks.

"We're hopelessly lost, aren't we?" Orion asked the two of them. "You guys ought to know, I'm terrible with directions."

Trying to remain positive in this situation, Jaune tried looking high and low.

"You think there might be a directory? Maybe a food court, some sort of recognizable landmark?" Jaune listed out his thoughts, which made Ruby snicker at him.

"Is that a no?"

"I think that's a no."

"Great, where's a sign when you need it?!" Jaune yelled out just as someone, who appeared to be one of the school staff, placed a signboard nearby. The signboard read: "This way to Main hall for New Students" with an arrow pointing towards the main academy building.

"Well Jaune, you got your wish. Now we have to make sure we aren't late for the ceremony." Orion stated before the trio rushed off in the direction stated on the signboard.

* * *

It took them a good ten minutes of fast walking and a couple of detours, but they finally reached the main hall where all the new students were gathered.

"Ruby! Over here! I saved you a spot!" Yang waved over to the trio as she called out to Ruby.

"Oh! Hey, I gotta go! I'll see you two after the ceremony!" The red-hooded teen said before dashing off to join her sister.

"See you later, Ruby!" Orion said as she left.

"Hey, wait! Ugh... Great, where am I supposed another nice quirky girl to talk to...?" Jaune said as the two of them slowly moved through the crowd to see the stage.

"Cheer up, Jaune. At least you've still have me to talk to."

"Yeah, I guess that's fine... Though it would be better if I had a few female friends. You know... mingle with the opposite gender and stuff."

"Well... Socializing isn't one of my strong points. However, I can tell you this... People will usually gather around those who portray confidence in themselves."

"Hmm... My dad used to say something like that too. Guess I'd better start following his advice now."

"Right... Oh, it seems like the ceremony's about to begin." Orion said, bringing Jaune's attention to the front when Professor Ozpin had just stepped onto the stage, ready to give his opening address.

"Ahem... I'll keep this brief." He stated with a solemn expression on his face. "You have travelled here in search of knowledge... To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you've finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people." At this point, some amongst the crowd began whispering amomg themselves with a liitle excitement.

But the mood changed as he continued. "But I look amongst you... and all I see is wasted energy... in need of purpose, direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this... but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far... It is up to you... to take the first step."

He ended his speech there, allowing Professor Goodwitch to take the stage. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins... Be ready... You're dismissed."

"Okay... now that that's over, what say we... Jaune, where did you-" Orion had turned to speak to Jaune, only to find him missing from the spot next to him. As he looked all around him, he spotted the blonde boy nearby. "I'm a natural blonde, you know..." He heard Jaune say, trying to impress a certain white haired girl with a one-sided ponytail.

Orion could only stand there and facepalm himself at the guy's attempt at befriending a girl. "Jaune, that's not what I meant when I talked about self-confidence..." He muttered under his breath.

* * *

Later that night, all the new students had gathered in together and laid out their bedrolls, getting ready to rest for their initiation test the next day. However, some of them had taken to chatting and playing around in order to kill their boredom.

Orion, having laid out his bedroll next to one of the ballroom's balcony doors, was standing on the balcony looking up at the night sky. He had only taken off his cloak and boots as he stood barefooted on the veranda. The quietness of the night made him feel a little uneasy, resulting in being unable to get an early sleep.

"... *Sigh*... This is going to take some getting use to..." He said to himself, before closing his eyes and letting the night wind lap at his hair.

"Hey Orion... Can't sleep?" A familiar voice interrupted his thoughts, snapping him back to reality. He turned around to notice Ruby standing behind him without any footwear as well. She was sporting a simple set of PJs, comprising of a black tank top with a heart-shaped Beowolf design, a pair of white pants with pink roses printed all over it and a black sleeping mask atop her head.

"You could say that... Guess I'm not used to the night being so quiet... How about you? Too excited you couldn't sleep?"

"... Not really, I was up writing a letter to my old friends back in Signal. Then, Yang had this crazy idea to try and get me some new friends... Not sure if my attempt was any good."

"Sounds like you're doing just fine... As for me, I just feel that nights like this are hard to come by... When you've lived the way I did for the past year, you wouldn't be used to such peaceful nights..."

"What do you mean? I don't really follow..." Ruby asked.

"I've spent the last year on my own, roaming throughout Remnant... Everyday I spent outside the protection of the cities was a battle for survival... Always being on constant alert for Grimm wanting to make a meal out of me, no matter if it was day or night..."

"That's sounds incredibly dangerous... Why would you even put yourself at risk like that?" She asked.

"Well... Guess you could say... I'm trying to find myself." Orion replied, turning back to look up at the shattered moon.

"...Meaning?" She questioned, a hint of interest in her voice.

"It's... not something a person of your maturity should concern herself with..."

"Hey! I'm mature enough. I'm at least fifteen!" She said before puffing up her cheeks and pouting her lips.

Stifling a laugh at her attempt to correct him, Orion decided to humor her a little. "All right, I understand... You're a MATURE little lady... And now I think it's time for the little lady to turn around and get her beauty sleep. You're going to need it for tomorrow..." He replied, patting her head lightly. Her cheeks began to redden, out of embarrassment for being treated like a kid, before finally pulling away from his hand.

"I'm gonna let that one go for now... See you tomorrow, I guess?" She asked, her face still flushed with embarassment.

"All right... Goodnight, little lady." He said, bowing like some gentleman.

"...*Yawn*...Goodnight, Orion..." She replied before quickly going back inside to turn in for the night.

Looking back at the shattered, he sighed. "With any luck, tomorrow's initiation will kick off without a hitch..." He muttered to himself before turning in for the night like the others.

Meanwhile, Professor Goodwitch and Headmaster Ozpin were going through the final preparations of the initiation test the next day.

"Let's see now... This year's entries for initiation will be... Hmm... It seems you were right, Ozpin. That boy did turn up today." Glynda said as she scanned through a list of profiles.

"Did he now? Well, now that he has decided to show up... We can see for ourselves if he's meant to be here." Ozpin answered, his eyes still fixed to his terminal screen.

"As the overseer for the test, I'm going to be very critical with regards to the final results. If his performance doesn't qualify for our level of training, it'll be better for him to withdraw. I will nit have him risk becoming a liability to others."

"... *Sigh*... Very well. Have it your way then. You're quite stubborn for your age, you know that?"

"It's called being firm... And don't you dare bring up my age again." Glynda responded with a low growl. Ozpin remained unfazed by her little threat and simply returned to the work before him.

* * *

The next day, everyone began gathering at Beacon Cliff, eager to start their initiation test. Having taken a wrong turn on the way there, Orion become one of the last few to arrive.

Earlier in the morning, he had a little run in with a certain person in oriental green garbs and a rather bubbly and overly excitable ginger-headed girl, who had somehow managed to steal some of Orion's pancakes at breakfast, thinking he wouldn't notice.

Thinking back, Orion didn't exactly mind that as he wasn't one to eat a lot for breakfast either. So he simply sat quietly and ate as he watched the girl continue rambling on and on to her black haired partner.

Snapping out of his flashback, he spotted Jaune, Ruby and Yang in a line with the other participants, each standing on top of a silver tile.

"Morning, you sleepyhead. What kept ya?" Yang asked him as he took his place on the tile next to Jaune's.

"Yeah... I got a little lost on the way over... Good thing I managed to arrive in time. What about you three? Ready for the initiation test?"

"Well... I'm ready as I'll ever be, I guess. Just hoping I'll make it out alive." Jaune said with a degree of uncertainty.

"Here's some good advice on survival in combat: Stay back and look at the big picture. It'll be easier to spot for weaknesses and opportunities that way." He replied, hoping his advice would ease Jaune's worries.

Before Jaune could respond to that, everyone turned their attention to Professor Ozpin, who started his briefing for the test. "For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

Professor Goodwitch came forward to add a few words of her own. "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams'. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today."

A surprised Ruby couldn't hold back her shock. "What? Ohhh..."

Taking over from the blonde instructor, Ozpin continued from where he left off. "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon. So it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."

A few groans could be heard amongst the line of new students, but Ozpin paid them no heed.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years." He stated, earning a few shocked expressions from the crowd, especially Ruby, who felt like her world just shattered like a mirror.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die." He said, with a solemn look on his face, which meant he wasn't planning to sugarcoat the reality of what they had signed up for.

Jaune could only laugh nervously and gulped down his saliva as he started to feel a little weak in the knees.

The headmaster immediately decided to finish up his briefing quickly. "You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. You will guard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Jaune immediately raised his hand to ask something, but the headmaster didn't seem to notice.

"Good! Now, take your positions."

Everyone immediately struck a pose on their tile, looking ready for combat. All except Jaune, who still had his hand raised.

"Uh, sir? I've got, um... a question. So, this landing... strategy thing... Uh, wha-what is it? You're, like, dropping us off or something?" He asked the headmaster, who finally took notice of Jaune.

"No. You will be falling." He answered with a straight face.

"Oh, uh, I see... So, like, did you hand out parachutes for us?" The blonde inquired. Orion shook his head and started thinking that perhaps Jaune wasn't quite ready for this, seeing as he kept throwing out question after question while the others were each being launched through the air. The line of students soon dwindled down to the remaining few closest to the headmaster.

"No, you will be using your own 'landing strategy'..." was the reply.

"Uh-huh... Yeah." Jaune said, scratching his head and looking both confused and hesitant.

Orion noticed Yang winking at her younger sister before putting on a pair of aviators and being catapulted over the forest, yelling with excitement as she sailed through the air. A second later, Ruby was also sent flying into the distance along with the others.

"So, what exactly is a landing strategYYY!" He asked but he was cut off when the tile beneath him finally flung him into the sky with the other students, who were beginning to make their descent into the forest below.

"... I'm going to regret not learning how to fly, aren't I?" Orion thought aloud before being catapulted into the air as well. Ozpin, having heard what Orion mumbled, simply took a sip of his drink as he and the other teachers on the cliff looked down at the forest, watching as the initiation test had finally commenced.

* * *

That was the end of Chapter two- First Step. Hope you guys like it. Stay tuned for my next chapter. Also, please remember to Read & Review, becuase any feedback from you guys is recommended.


	3. Chapter 3- A Rough Start

This time, I'll be writing the third chapter through various perspectives.

Chapter 3- A Rough Start

In the skies above the Emerald Forest, numerous combat-ready students were flying over the green landscape as they began making their way down into the depths of the lush forest.

* * *

(Orion's POV)

Meanwhile, Orion was having trouble slowing down as he continued to plunge straight through the sea of trees at high velocity. Unable to think of a quick plan on the fly, he decided to simply raise his shield ahead of him and braced himself for the impact of his shield smashing against the hard trunks of the trees.

"This is most DEFINITELY going to HURT-!" He cried out as he dove headfirst into a line of trees with his shield, smashing through them effortlessly. He finally came to a halt when he grabbed the nearest low hanging branch on the large tree in front of him, flipping himself over and landing nicely on top of it.

"Ow ow ow... Okay... Note to self: Remember to get a grappling hook the next time you're being thrown off the side of the cliff..." He muttered to himself as he hopped down from one branch to another before landing on solid ground. Orion started nursing his slightly bruised arm that held up his shield before deciding to carry on.

"I hope Ruby and Jaune are having a better than me right now... First things first... Have to find that temple. It shouldn't be too hard... I mean, they said it was located in the northern end of the forest. So... which way was North again?" Orion allowed his mind to wander as he made a beeline through the trees in the direction he assumed was north.

* * *

(Ruby's POV)

Ruby, having opted for a fast and smooth landing, used the blast recoil from her Crescent Rose to slow down her descent. Eventually, she managed to hook her scythe onto a tree branch and land on it. As soon as she touched down on flat ground, she made a mad dash through the forest, calling out Yang's name in hopes of stumbling upon her.

"Ugh... This is bad... This is really bad. What if I can't find her? What if someone finds her first?" She wondered, veering left and right to avoid running into trees.

She began weighing her options while her childish imagination started forming a cutesy cartoon in her head. "Well... There's always Jaune. He's nice... He's funny…! I don't think he's very good in a fight. Oh! What about Blake? So mysterious... so calm... Plus, she likes books...! But then again, I'm not sure if I'll be able to hold a conversation with her... Oh, I know! Maybe Orion could pair up with me! He's quite a friendly guy... We even kicked Roman's butt that night...! But then again, given his sense of direction, we'll probably end up lost in this stupid forest."

"Blegh…! Okay, who else do I know in this school? There's Yang, Jaune, Blake, Orion and..." She snapped out of her thoughts and skidded to a halt just in time to spot a certain white haired girl with a rapier strapped to her waist. This girl, Weiss Schnee she remembered, was the same person she had got in trouble with in the little incident in the main courtyard the day before.

There was now an eerie silence between the two of them for a full minute as they looked at each other cautiously. Ruby smiled gingerly at Weiss, hoping the heiress would follow the condition given by Professor Ozpin and team up with her. However, her smile seemed to have the opposite effect as Weiss immediately turned a full 180 and quickly walked away from the red-hooded girl.

"Wait! Where are you going?! We're supposed to be teammates..." Ruby cried out, before looking at the ground dejectedly as she felt a little saddened because the heiress looked like she didn't want to be her partner.

A few minutes later, she perked up when she felt a hand dragging her by her hood. "By no means does this make us friends..." Weiss said, continuing to pull Ruby along with her.

"YOU CAME BACK!" She yelled out cheerfully, happy that Weiss didn't simply abandon her there.

* * *

(Jaune's POV)

Jaune was cursing his own bad luck, grunting as he continued struggling to free himself from the tree that he was pinned to. If it wasn't for the javelin that had pierced through the back of his hoodie and pinning him to the tree, he could have been on his way to find a partner to work together with to reach the temple.

Of course, in hindsight, if a certain long red-haired amazon warrior hadn't come along to rescue him when he was falling, he might have become a pancake from the impact of hitting the ground or trees.

Apparently, the white-haired heiress Weiss Schnee, whom he dubbed as Snow Angel, had just stumbled upon him as he was trying to get unstuck. However, once she looked up to see him, she tried to ignore him and immediately went back the way she came.

"Hey, wait! Come back! Who's gonna get me down from here?" He yelled out, flailing his arms around to try one last effort to free himself before giving up.

That was when he heard a familiar female voice calling his name. Looking down, he spotted Pyrrha Nikos, the redheaded amazon warrior, looking up at him. He remembered that he didn't exactly give her a good impression when he tried to mingle with her and Weiss. He even didn't think she was going to come and help him.

"Do you have any spots left on your team?" She asked him with her arm folded across her chest.

Thinking her words were a little sarcastic, he responded with his arms folded as well. "Very funny..." However, after giving it some thought, he decided to let the matter rest and simply smiled down at her, hoping she was going to pull him free from the tree.

When she did, he fell on his bum hard as he landed on solid ground. "Oomph! Ow... My butt…" He muttered while rubbing his sore bum as he slowly got to his feet.

"I'm sorry. Are you all right, Jaune?" Pyrrha asked with a bit of concern.

"Yeah... I think I'll be fine..." He replied as he started dusting himself. "Man... I had hoped I could've run into Ruby or Orion in this place..." He added, scratching the back of his head.

"Orion... Is he that person who was with you at the opening address yesterday?"

"Yeah, you know him?"

"I don't think so... But I felt something strangely familiar about him when I saw him yesterday... Like I've seen him before from a long time ago."

"Really...? Hmm... Let's forget about it for now. So... Ready to get out of here?" Jaune asked.

"Of course. Let us make haste to the temple, shall we?" She answered as she sheathed her javelin under the shield strapped to her back.

"What? Oh right! The temple... He he... Don't suppose you know which way is North?" He asked, pointing in two different directions.

"I'm not entirely sure... but I believe it could be this way." She answered, pointing just ahead of them. Soon, the pair made haste in the direction Pyrrha suggested, hoping to find the temple and the relics.

* * *

(Ozpin's POV)

It had been over an hour since the test had started. Professor Ozpin and the rest of the instructors were standing atop Beacon Cliff, watching the progress of each of the students through their various surveillance systems littered throughout the Emerald Forest prior to starting the test.

"The last pair has been formed, sir." Professor Goodwitch stated, watching the surveillance footage from her tablet. "Nora Valkyrie and Lie Ren… Poor boy... I can't possibly imagine those two getting along. Still, he's probably better off than Miss Nikos." She continued, switching the video footage of Pyrrha and Jaune Arc trekking through the woods.

Professor Ozpin did nothing but murmur in response.

"I don't care what his transcripts say. That Jaune fellow is not ready for this level of combat... I guess we'll find out soon enough. At their current pace, they should reach the temple within just a few minutes." She said as she walked away from the cliff edge.

Turning back to Ozpin, Professor Goodwitch asked "Speaking of which, what did you use as relics this year?" She asked with a hint of curiosity. Feeling that another issue needed to be addressed, she added another question for the Headmaster.

"Also, why did you permit for that boy Orion to become a last minute participant? Now, there will be at least one person who will be without a team... Professor Ozpin?"

Professor Ozpin didn't answer, watching his tablet with great interest as it showed two seperate live videos, one of which depicted Ruby Rose with her newfound "partner", Weiss Schnee, while the other showed a slightly winded Orion resting on a large tree root.

* * *

(Orion's POV)

"... Huff huff... At this rate, I'm going to become the last to retrieve that relic..." Orion muttered to himself before getting back on his feet and quickly moved on. He had been following the sound of howling and gunfire for a while now, hoping to run into another participant.

However, upon reaching the site after another ten minutes of running, all he found was various signs of a battle... as well as the biggest pack of Beowolves he's ever seen staring at him with hunger in their eyes.

Only one thing came to mind when he saw them suddenly popping out from behind the bushes. "Well, THIS is going to be... Aw nuts..." He said as an Ursa came ploughing through the trees just West of him.

"... Sigh... This is going to be long day, isn't it?" He uttered as the Ursa slowly drew closer with the Beowolves quickly closing in on him.

"Charging at this many is a no-go... Need to thin out their numbers first for a better chance of success..."

Quickly switching his shield into its bow form, he took aim at the head of the closest Beowolf and pulled on the bowstring. As soon as he let loose the taut bowstring, a single translucent arrow shot out from the bow, piercing through the Beowolf's head, as well as severing off the arm of another behind the first one. This enraged the pack and they began charging towards him, the Ursa following closely behind.

He continued launching volley after volley at the charging Grimm, trying to reduce their numbers. In the end, there were only ten Beowolves and the single Ursa remaining. However, these bunch of Grimm seemed to be a little smarter, trapped him in a circle before beginning to attack him from all sides.

"Encircling their prey before attacking...? A wise move for Beowolves... I guess I'll have to change tactics." He thought aloud, immediately switching his bow into a new form. The wing-like parts, which previously formed the body of the bow, were now partially folded back into the shield while a long, orange translucent double-edged blade extended out from the front edge of the shield.

However, he had to keep his guard up the entire time, not moving an inch from his position while retaliating with several decent strikes on those that got too close.

Having to defend against the seemingly unending onslaught of attacks was exhausting for Orion, who was already feeling physically drained from running around the forest earlier.

"Argh, these beasts aren't letting up for even a second..." He yelled, narrowly dodging out of the way of a pair of Beowolf fangs. Noticing a large gap between two of the Beowolves, he made a mad dash towards them, sliding under the claws of both of them and finally leaping out of the circle, narrowly avoiding the stomping paws of the Ursa.

"That was too close for comfort...!" He cried out as he got to his feet and ran, trying to put some distance between him and them. Once the Grimm had turned around to face him, he swapped to his bow and aimed towards the sky instead of the charging creatures.

"Got only one option left... Just hope that it still works..." He mumbled, activating a switch on the underside of his weapon before pulling back the bowstring as far as he can.

Upon releasing it, a single arrow shot forth with red and yellow energy spiralling outward like a drill. The creatures of Grimm stopped in their tracks as they watched the arrow shoot towards the sky till it had disappeared among the clouds.

"Three... Two... One..." Orion whispered, switching his bow back into its shield mode and raising it over his head while taking cover under a tree.

Just as they were about to resume their charge, one of the Beowolves dropped dead on the spot, a small-sized arrow sticking out from the top of its head. This was followed by a shower of similar arrows which came down hard like a hailstorm. The Grimm might be physically strong, but even they couldn't withstand being hammered from above by a hundred of those small arrows.

The already diminished pack of Beowolves soon fell victim to this storm of arrows, dropping like flies till none of them were left standing. The remaining Ursa, which had been severely wounded from the numerous arrows that struck its oversized body, slowly limped towards Orion in an attempt to crush him with its remaining ounce of strength.

But as soon as he was within striking range of its paw, the creature simply collapsed on its side, its breathing silenced.

Once he was sure the arrow storm was over, Orion lowered his shield to his side and slumped onto one of the larger tree roots behind him, breathing rather heavily as he continued to watch his surroundings. The entire area around him was now strewn with a lot of dead Grimm and at least a hundred arrows.

"*Huff*... I hope there won't be any more surprises like that from now on... But something tells me this is just the start..."

* * *

That's it for Chapter three. Stay tuned for my next chapter-The Token. And please remember to read and review, because any feedback is welcomed.


	4. Chapter 4- The Token

Chapter 4- The Token

(At the Cliffs)

"So gentlemen... What are your comments on our last participant?" Professor Ozpin was asking his colleagues after having witnessed Orion's battle from the video.

"Well now... That young man isn't shy about holding back. That last attack of his really came down hard on those Grimm! Wouldn't you agree, Barty?" A rather plump middle-aged man, with grey hair and a thick bushy mustache, said as he turned to his colleague. That particular person sported a pair of round glasses, messy green hair and a set of slightly disheveled office clothes.

"I concur, Professor Port. Clearly, this isn't the first time he's been thrown into a situation with the odds not in his favour..." The bespectacled man replied with haste in his voice before taking a sip of coffee from his thermos flask.

"And what about you, Glynda? What's your assessment?" Ozpin asked his assistant, whose eyes were still transfixed to the video on her tablet.

"Taking on that many Grimm at once should be an easy feat for anyone joining our school. However, unlike some of the other participants, it appears he isn't well-trained in speed or strength."

"Is that so...?" Ozpin queried.

"Judging from what I've just witnessed, it is clear that his skill in combat doesn't lie in his physical ability... Rather, it is in his ability to analyse and adapt to a given situation. The multi-functionality of his weapon implies that it was built with the idea of catering to the many changing situations in a battle..." She added as she adjusted her glasses.

"I see... quite a sound assessment, Glynda."

"... But this only reflects his ability as an individual. He hasn't proven if he's capable of working well with others. Simply put, he hasn't shown himself to be a team player or a leader... which brings me back to my previous question, Professor Ozpin."

"Which was...?"

"How will we proceed from this point forward? At this point, nearly all of the participants have found a partner... He's now the only one left without one."

"Ah... Don't worry. I had something planned in case of such an outcome, which was why I left a specific item among the other relics. It's up to him if he's willing to take it."

* * *

(At the edge of Temple ruins)

"Great! I finally reached... I think..." Orion exclaimed.

After replenishing the energy in his weapon, he continued trekking through the forest with his shield up, eventually reaching a large clearing. In the middle of it, he could vaguely see some people standing around what looked like stone ruins.

"All right... Let's go get that-" He was cut off by a shrill screech that came from behind him. Turning around, he spotted a tall redheaded female, clad in some light bronze-colored armor, running straight at him with a large Death Stalker at her heels.

"Oh, you have got to be kidding..." Orion groaned.

"You, what are you doing? RUN!" The long red-haired girl yelled, prompting Orion to do so as well. Unfortunately, speed wasn't one of his strong points, so all he could do was to stay a few metres ahead of it.

On the other hand, the redheaded amazon warrior was barely managing to keep ahead of the Death Stalker, narrowly dodging one of its claws as it swept across the ground.

"What did you do to provoke it?!" Orion shouted in her direction as she tried to close the distance between them.

"I'm sorry! My partner, Jaune and I thought its stinger was a...!" Her sentence was cut short as she leapt over another swipe of its left claw. "Oh my goodness... Jaune!"

"All right, I guess that explains... Look out!" He yelled back, before being getting hit by the force of the enormous scorpion's claw as it swept him off the ground. He was thrown straight across the clearing and into the temple ruins, crashing against the back wall of the temple before collapsing under a heap of rubble.

"*Cough cough* Ow... Good thing the shield took most of the impact... Or I'd be a goner right now." He said as he shakily got up from underneath the small pile of rubble. Noticing Yang, Ruby and several other familiar faces gathering in front of the ruins, he staggered over to check out the current situation.

"Orion! Nice of ya to drop in!" Yang exclaimed.

"Ow... The feeling's mutual. Oh... My head still hurts... Anyone mind explaining what's going on...?"

"Orion, was it? I'm Ren. As for our current predicament... Well, we've got two problems... Namely, the Nevermore circling around in the sky... and that Death Stalker that just crashed in from the forest." The jade oriental-garbed fighter answered, pointing in the direction of both Grimm.

Shaking off the grogginess in his head, he looked around the area to get a better understanding of their situation.

The redheaded amazon warrior had just managed to get away from the gigantic scorpion, leaping away from it and landing on her side next to the group.

"Great, the gang's all here! Now we can die together!" Said Yang in a slightly sarcastic tone.

"Not if I can help it!" Ruby declared before charging towards the Death Stalker.

"Ruby, wait! Yang shouted to her sister, but her words couldn't reach her. Screaming out a high pitched battle cry, Ruby charged towards the scorpion like a speeding bullet, ready to bring her scythe down on it.

However, as soon as the two made contact, the Grimm effortlessly swiped her away and knocking her back a few feet.

"D-Do-Don't worry! Totally fine!" Ruby declared as she slowly stood up to face her adversary. She fired a single round at its head, but it merely bounced off its hard shell. Realizing that she was in over her head with this opponent, she quickly sheathed her weapon and ran as fast as she could away from it as it began chasing her.

"RUBY!" Yang yelled out, rushing forward to help her sister. Looking up from the scene on the ground, Orion realized that the Nevermore had stopped its circling pattern and was heading in the direction of the two sisters.

"Oh no... Yang, wait!" Orion called out, following behind the yellow brawler.

The Nevermore cawed in the skies above them before flapping its wings and sending down a torrent of sharpened feathers like projectiles, one of which had snagged onto Ruby's cape, pinning her to the ground. Yang stopped in time to avoid getting hit from a few of the feather-like projectiles, but she was too late to realize that one more was going for her head.

"Yang, get down!" Orion yelled as he lunged forward with his shield in front of him. The feather came down at such a high velocity, that he was only able to knock it off-course by a few degrees, allowing it to strike the ground a few inches next to them.

"*Huff huff* Yang, are you okay?" Orion turned behind to ask her.

"Woah... That was too close! Thanks for the save!" Yang affirmed.

"Don't mention it... But we have to get to Ruby! She's stuck!" He told her, pointing to Ruby who was still struggling to free her cloak from the large feather pinning it down.

"Ruby, get out of there!" Yang yelled to her sister.

However, Ruby was still tugging at her cloak, unable to pull herself free of the feather. "I'm trying!"

"RUBY! BEHIND YOU!" Orion yelled.

The Death Stalker soon towered over her, raising its golden stinger to strike the helpless girl before it.

"RUBY" Both Yang and Orion cried out in vain, as a white blurry figure rushed past them in the blink of an eye just as the tip of the stinger was about to reach her.

In an instant, a geyser of ice erupted from the ground in front of Ruby, stopping the stinger a few inches from her face. That was when Orion and Yang noticed the white-haired teen kneeling on one knee in front of Ruby with her sword lodged into the ground.

"Thank god, Ruby's all right!" Orion heaved a sigh of relief as he and Yang both rushed up to Ruby, with the yellow brawler locking her red-cloaked sister in a tight embrace.

"So happy you're okay" She said to Ruby as she let her go. The two of them stared at each other for a moment, before looking up to see the Nevermore still flying in the skies above them, roaring at its failure to kill any of them.

"Ruby... You're not hurt, are you...? You nearly scared me to death when that Death stalker..." Orion said with a worried look in his eyes.

"Yeah, I'm perfectly fine! Well... excluding my cloak. But you don't need to worry, Orion... I have no intention to repeat that again." Ruby answered him as the three of them quickly headed back to regroup with the others at the temple.

* * *

(Back at the Temple ruins)

"Hey Orion! Good to see that you made it here!" Jaune exclaimed as he saw Orion arriving along with the two sisters.

"Jaune! What happened to you? You look like you tossed into a tree and then landed on your face." Orion asked, noticing the leaves and twigs sticking out of his clothing as well as the bits of grass stuck to his white chest plate.

"Yeah..." Jaune muttered, the loud cawing in the sky bringing his attention back to the flying Nevermore.

"Umm... guys? That thing's circling back! What are we gonna do?!" Jaune frantically asked the group.

"Look... There's no sense in dilly-dallying... Our objective's right in front of us." The white haired girl, whom Ruby referred to as Weiss, answered him with a straight face.

"She's right... Our mission is to grab an artifact and make it back to the cliffs... There's no point in fighting these things." Ruby added, supporting Weiss's statement.

"Run and live... That is an idea I can get behind." Jaune said, giving the plan a thumbs-up. And so, both Jaune and Ruby walked up to one pedestal each to take a relic each.

Looking closely at the relics on each pedestal, Orion realized that they were actually chess pieces of gold and black. Meanwhile, Jaune had taken a gold-colored rook piece while Ruby had chosen a gold-colored knight piece.

Once the two of them had taken the pieces they wanted, they were about to re-join with the others when they noticed Orion still standing in the middle of the circular temple ruins, staring at the artifacts.

"Orion, is there something wrong? You're awfully quiet." Ruby questioned.

"You could say that... The thing is... I don't know if I should be taking back one of these relics with me."

"Why not? It seems simple to me! Just grab one and go!" Jaune stated, motioning to the other pieces.

"Two reasons... Firstly, I made it all the way here without running into anyone who didn't already have a partner. Secondly, prior to the start of this initiation, I had already made a headcount on the number of people participating..." Orion answered with a straight face.

"And...?" Ruby asked, wondering what point he was trying to make was.

"There are at least twenty one people taking part. In other words... Out of everyone participating, there would be at least one person who won't be able to form a partnership. And I believe that person is me..." Orion replied in a slightly dejected tone.

"I don't get it. So what if you couldn't find a partner? You still made it here on your own. Isn't that good enough?" Ruby asked him, a little confused at what Orion was trying to point out.

"Ruby, think about it. Professor Ozpin said that once the pair is formed, we can make our way here to claim a relic. There are only ten pedestals with one relic each, meant for ten different pairs. If I were to take one of them as an individual, it would be unfair for the last pair when they arrive to find that all the artifacts have been retrieved and thereby, they'd lose their goal and their standings when they're forming the teams. Are you following so far?" Orion explained. However, his explanation only confused the poor redhead.

"I only understood the part about forming pairs... The rest... You kinda lost me... He he..." Ruby answered, scratching her head in embarrassment, which earned a sigh from Orion.

"I think I get it... So what now? What's your next move?" Jaune asked.

"I don't know... Wait, what's that?" Orion remarked as he spotted sparkling out of the corner of his eye. He started heading towards the back of the ruins, with Ruby and Jaune following behind him.

Coming to a halt just in front of one of the pillars, he looked up to find a small pedestal hidden in the pillar itself. Out of curiosity, he reached up to it and pulled something out.

In his hand was a gold-colored object, similar to the relics outside. But instead of being themed after chess pieces, it was like a badge carved in the shape of fire. Etched into the center of the token was a symbol, comprising of two axes placed in a cross-shape in front of a pair of olives, which was the official crest of Beacon Academy.

"What is this? Another type of relic?" Orion wondered to himself as he continued to inspect the object.

"Orion, what did you find? Woah... Is that another relic?!" Jaune inquired when he noticed the token in his hand.

"I think so. But what's it doing here?"

"Who knows? But isn't it great?! Now you've found yourself a relic to bring back to the cliffs!" Ruby exclaimed.

"I'm not so certain... But given that it's got the school emblem on it, I guess that's a possibility as well. I'll take this one back and see if retrieving this is any different from the others." He answered, putting the token into his pocket. The trio immediately returned to the others who were already preparing to leave.

"Time we left!" Ren said.

"Right, let's go!" Ruby declared, waving to everyone to follow her as she took the lead. The whole group nodded in agreement before following closely behind her.

* * *

(Abandoned Tower ruins)

The group of nine went through the forest once more before coming out into another large clearing, which led to a set of abandoned stone structures and a large ruined tower which stood in the middle of a ravine, a stone bridge placed between it and the edge of the ravine.

Noticing the Nevermore still following them, the group split up into pairs, each taking cover behind stone columns on either side of the clearing. Orion managed to slide into cover behind one of the stone columns just in front of Ruby and Yang's, peeking out of the corner to gain a better understanding of their situation. The Nevermore that followed them had now landed at the top of the ruined tower, cawing loudly while watching the area below.

"It's taken position on top of the tower! We won't be able to sneak pass it." Orion conveyed to the rest who were in hiding.

"Well, that's great." Yang said with a hint of sarcasm, their plan to avoid direct confrontation now out the window.

Turning back to where they entered, Jaune spotted the Death Stalker, which managed to break free of the ice that immobilized it earlier, came crashing out of the treeline. "Oh man, RUN!" Jaune yelled, prompting everyone to run out of their hiding places and make a mad sprint towards the tower.

Orion heard Ren call out to his partner, Nora, to distract the Nevermore. Ducking and evading through the shower of feather-like projectiles the Nevermore sent her way, the ginger head drew out her grenade launcher and started firing volley after volley of grenades at it in response. The grenades exploded in a burst of pink smoke all around it, causing the gargantuan bird to fly away.

Orion was one of the last few to reach the bridge leading to the tower, his weapon switched to its bow form. Turning back, he saw Jaune running past him while his redheaded partner had stopped to fire a few shots from her rifle at Death Stalker.

"C'mon, keep moving!" Orion shouted as he quickly firing several arrows that exploded in its face, hoping to slow it down long enough for the others to get away. Once he was sure the rest of them had made it past him, he quickly followed behind them.

He thought they were safe for the moment since the Death Stalker couldn't fit onto the bridge, but immediately noticed the Nevermore had returned and was flying low.

"INCOMING!" Orion yelled, alerting the others to the bird diving straight towards the central stone pillars supporting the bridge. Everyone leaped away from the central part of the bridge in the nick of time as it collapsed from the Nevermore smashing through the supports with relative ease.

However, the nine of them were now cut off from each other as the three people with Orion were left on their own to fight off the Death Stalker on the other side of the ravine.

Orion, Ren and the redheaded amazon warrior, who Jaune referred to as Pyrrha, were desperately trying to push the Death Stalker by relentlessly attacking it with Dust rounds and arrows. The black-bowed girl, who he found out earlier from was named Blake, struck the large scorpion's head with her bladed pistol and black ribbon, using them like a type of chain-and-sickle weapon. The Death Stalker practically shook off all their attacks and used its claw to swipe Blake back, knocking her to the ground.

"It's no good! We need something to keep it off-balance! We need-" Orion was cut off when he heard a battle cry coming from behind him as Nora came flying through the air, with her grenade launcher now changed into a large Warhammer, and using it to smash the scorpion's head onto the ground. "That will work..." Orion muttered at the unexpected turn of events.

Unfortunately, the attack couldn't even dent the Death Stalker's thick carapace, and it immediately retaliated with its stinger aimed towards the hammer-wielding ginger.

Using the explosive energy in her hammer as propulsion, she launched herself backwards and managed to avoid taking a lethal hit from the stinger. But Orion immediately realized she was on a collision course with Blake who was directly behind her.

"Look out!" He exclaimed as he pushed her out of the way in time while getting bumped straight off the edge of the broken bridge. Fortunately, Blake noticed him getting knock off the platform and dived off the edge after him. She managed to grab onto his right arm while latching her chain sickle onto a nearby support pillar, swinging them both across the ravine.

"Woah... Thanks. I thought I was a goner for a second..." Orion thanked his rescuer.

"Don't thank me just yet, we've still got business to take care of..." She said monotonously as she had swung them towards the Nevermore as it came back flying around the tower.

Using the force of her upward swing, she drew back her chain sickle using the black ribbon, switching it into its katana form. Seeing her switch to a close combat weapon, Orion opted to do the same and changed his weapon to its blade mode.

Once the both of them landed on top of the Nevermore's head, they started running down its feathered body while striking at its body numerous times, before leaping off of it towards the top of the tower where Ruby, Yang and Weiss were waiting. Blake landed safely alongside Yang while Orion misjudged the distance of the gap, latching himself to the tower's outer wall by stabbing his blade into it and hanging onto the edge of the stone wall for dear life.

"Orion! Give me your hand!" Yang called down to him as she and Ruby reached down to grab his hand and pulled him up to safety. "Consider this as repayment for helping me earlier." The yellow brawler said, patting him on the back as he continued to pant from exhaustion.

"*Huff huff* Sure... Though that's the last time I'd ever try *huff* jumping off the back of a flying Nevermore..." Orion replied, slowly recovering from the rush of adrenaline.

"It's tougher than it looks!" Blake told the others as they watched the Nevermore alter its circling pattern to try for another attack.

"She's right. That bird just took our blows like they were nothing at all..."

"Then let's hit it with EVERYTHING we got!" Yang shouted, readying her yellow gauntlets for a firefight. The others took a page from her book and switched to long range attacks. All of them immediately started firing a barrage of gunfire, glyph-conjured projectiles and volleys of arrows at the oncoming beast, some of which missed their target by a hair's breadth while the rest barely fazed its massive body. The bird adjusted its flight path and smashed through the stone support pillars just beneath them, causing the five of them to start falling into the ravine along with part of the tower itself.

Each of the girls used their various methods to propel themselves through the falling debris and landing safely on different sides of the remaining structure.

Unlike the four of them, Orion didn't actually have a way to follow them like that, so he had to think of a plan fast. An idea struck him almost immediately and he quickly grabbed onto the nearest large rock, leaping from it to climb onto a higher one and continued to repeat this till he had reached the top of the falling debris. He made one final leap from there and managed to grab onto the edge of the bridge where Ruby and her partner Weiss were standing on. Pulling himself up, he ran over to the two of them to regroup and come up with a plan of attack.

"None of this is working!" Weiss muttered to her redheaded partner. Orion looked around to assess their situation and try to come up with a concrete plan to overcome their current predicament. Blake had only just touched down on the bridge adjacent to theirs. On the other hand, Yang, her impulsive nature kicking in, was already standing atop one of the remaining stone columns, relentlessly firing blasts from her shotgun gauntlets at the Nevermore. Individually, their attacks proved ineffective against it, so their only remaining option was a single coordinated attack.

"Umm... Any ideas, Orion?"

"Not at the moment, why?"

"I have an idea on how to beat it, but it's risky..."

She said before whispering her idea to him.

After listening to her plan, he pondered for a few seconds before breaking out into a smile.

"Don't worry. Every plan has its own risks... I'm sure no matter how outrageous your idea is, if you are confident that it will work, then you can trust all of us to help however we can..." Orion reassured her, patting her on the shoulder.

"All right then... Weiss, I have a plan! Cover me!" Ruby told her white-haired partner before rushing off to find Blake for her assistance. Weiss, thinking any terrible idea of hers was better than nothing, went off towards the Nevermore to buy Ruby enough time to execute her brilliant idea.

Meanwhile, Orion took up position in the middle of the central platform, adjusting the energy output of his bow. For Ruby's plan to succeed, they would need to keep the Nevermore busy long enough for everyone to be ready and in position. So, Orion was going to ensure that its eyes were fixed on him and not the others.

Scrambling his way to the top of one of the remaining pillars, he was getting ready to fire when Yang stopped shooting off rounds for just a couple of seconds to talk to him.

"Hey, Orion! Fancy meeting you up here! And here I thought you weren't really the gutsy type of guy..."

"It's only fair... I can't call myself a man if I simply let a girl tussle with that thing."

"Oh, you did NOT just play the gender stereotype... All right, Mr Gutsy! Let's see what you got! How about you get that overgrown pigeon to turn this way?!" She told Orion as she returned to fire a second barrage of shots at the large bird before having to reload ammunition in her gauntlets.

"If you insist..." Orion answered her while pulling back his bowstring and taking careful aim with his eyes tracking its movement. "Right... One shot ought to do the trick..." He muttered as he fired off a single arrow towards the gigantic bird. The arrow zipped through the air in a flash of red and yellow before striking the Nevermore right in the eye, causing it to shriek in pain and rage. It turned its head towards Orion and Yang and roared in anger before changing its course to attack them.

"Oh... I've gotta hand it to ya. That's gotta hurt. But thanks for luring it this way! Now I can dish out some pain of my own!" Yang commented before leaping off the column she was standing on and into the gaping beak of the Nevermore that came charging at her first, while Orion jumped off the pillar he was on and landed nicely on the platform below.

It appeared that Yang was making good on her word as he spotted trails of smoke spewing out from the sides of the Nevermore's beak while the bird itself was veering off course and headed straight towards the tall cliffs.

He spotted Yang leaping out of its beak just before it collided against the hard surface of the cliff and landing on top of a stone structure.

Then, he saw Weiss dashing past Yang and jumping up to confront the beast. Using her unique ability, she caused another ice geyser to blast upwards just underneath the Nevermore, trapping its tail in the iceberg and preventing it from flying off.

Meanwhile, Yang had made her way back to the central platform. Once Ruby explained her plan to her sister, Yang and Blake quickly took up positions, each hanging onto the sides of two adjacent pillars with Blake's long black ribbon stretched between them.

Weiss came back to re-join the others, taking up position in the middle of the central platform just as Ruby propelled herself into the air, her scythe snagging onto the black ribbon and stretching it till she was almost touching the surface of the stone platform. Weiss, using her glyphs, held the scythe-wielding redhead in place, completing the set-up for Ruby's idea.

Ruby's plan was actually pretty simple: To make a gigantic slingshot, with Ruby and her scythe as the pellet, and aim it straight at the Nevermore.

"Of course... YOU would come up with this idea!" Weiss commented sarcastically.

"Think you can make the shot?" Ruby asked.

"Humph! Can I..." The white-haired heiress answered arrogantly.

Blinking for a few seconds, she asked again, "Can you-?"

"OF COURSE I CAN!" She replied with a slight irritation in her voice.

"Ruby, don't worry. We have a clear shot of the target. There's no chance for her to miss..." Orion added, slightly bolstering her confidence.

"Okay... Thanks for that. Now let's do this!" She yelled out as she locked and loaded her gun scythe. Then on Weiss's command, the glyph released the improvised slingshot, sending Ruby hurtling straight at the Nevermore at high speed.

Using the propulsion from her gun scythe, Ruby further accelerated herself till she had both her feet firmly on the face of the cliff, snagging the Nevermore by the neck with the scythe blade.

Then, utilizing the long trail of glyphs that Weiss had conjured on the Cliffside, she ran along the face of the cliff straight to the top, dragging the poor bird by the neck. Once she had reached the top, she fired one more round from her gun scythe, propelling her straight up into the air and onto the edge of the cliff, while her scythe cleaved straight through the Nevermore's neck, severing its head from its body.

Everyone watched as the collapsed form of the Nevermore's severed body fell from the cliff and into the seemingly bottomless ravine below.

Orion, Yang, Blake and Weiss all gathered on the platform as they looked up towards Ruby, who was looking down at them from the cliff edge, rose petals dancing in the wind which blew through her cape

"Well... That was a thing." Yang said to the others. Orion simply heaved a sigh of relief, thinking their hectic day was finally over.

* * *

(A few hours later... Back at Beacon Academy's Main Amphitheater)

"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark." Professor Ozpin had just finished naming four young men as the screen in the auditorium displayed each of their profiles while the four of them lined up for the applauding audience to see.

"The four of you retrieved the Black Bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will be working together as... Team CRDL! Led by... Cardin Winchester!" The headmaster continued.

So, what Orion had suspected before was correct. The chess pieces were meant for pairs, and since there were two pieces for every type of chess piece, the two pairs who took the same pieces would form a team. This only made him feel more confused. What was the token he had retrieved then? When he handed the token over to Professor Ozpin back at the cliffs a while ago, the headmaster smiled slightly before mentioning that this outcome was what he had hoped for.

Snapping out of his thoughts, he watched the audience continue their wave of ovation, till Jaune and his companions walked up to the stage to take their places in front of the headmaster as their faces fill the screen.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team JNPR!"

Nora laughed in delight, giving her partner Ren a hug.

"Led by... Jaune Arc!"

Jaune was quite surprised at what the Headmaster had just said. "Huh? L-Led by...?"

"Congratulations, young man." Professor Ozpin commented.

Pyrrha, happy for her partner, offered Jaune a friendly shoulder bump, but instead accidentally knocked him over, causing him to fall on his butt in front of the laughing audience.

Jaune's group left the stage while Ruby's group took their place on stage. "And finally: Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Yang Xiao Long." The Headmaster called out, motioning to the four as they lined up before him. "The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team RWBY. Led by... Ruby Rose!"

Weiss, surprised at the outcome, looked to Ruby, who was obviously in shock, as Yang went over to hug her sister. The entire audience continued cheering to congratulate all the teams formed, but Professor Ozpin wasn't quite finished yet.

"Now settle down, students! I still have one more announcement to make before I can declare the initiation to be over. Orion... Come forward, if you please." He spoke in a low voice, prompting Orion to walk onto the stage while the whole audience began whispering among themselves.

"For years, we've been grooming Huntsmen and Huntresses to work together in teams of four. However, even in Teams, Huntsmen and Huntresses will face great challenges once they've stepped out into the world... So this year I'm implementing a new policy regarding newly enrolled students who weren't able to form any teams, and yet displayed great skill as both an individual and are also capable supporting others." He said, motioning to Orion before continuing his speech.

"I call it the Supporter Initiative. This policy will allow the currently formed Teams to call upon those accepted into the Supporter's roster for aid, be it in practice or in the field. Essentially, an individual from this roster will already be pre-assigned to your team. However, bear in mind... They are not your teammates. The individuals selected to be in the Supporter Initiative are essentially a team in and of their own." He continued, earning several confused looks from among the crowd of students.

"And now to start things off... Orion. Instead of taking the chess pieces, you retrieved the Token of Fire. From this point forward, you will be joining the Supporter Initiative as its first official member and honorary leader."

When Orion's profile was displayed on the main auditorium screen, the crowd of students began clapping to congratulate him for his new role. Orion, on the other hand, wasn't paying much attention to them as he was deep in thought about what Professor Ozpin said about his new role.

If that were to be the case, which of the newly formed Teams will he be assigned to support?

"Mister Orion... I trust you are eager to learn about which team you'll be attached to?" As if reading his thoughts, Professor Ozpin asked him, snapping him out of his deep thinking.

"How did...? Never mind... Yes, Professor Ozpin. I would like to know." Orion answered calmly.

"I have decided to assign you to be Team RWBY's support member. You will be attending classes with them over the next few years, but you will not accompany them on assignments or missions unless they request for your aid. Is that clear, young man?" The Headmaster questioned.

"Okay... Wait a minute. As in I'll be helping Ruby and her Team?" Orion answered back with his own query.

"Yes. Given how well you worked together with the members of Team RWBY during the initiation test, I see no other reason why I shouldn't place you with them."

Pondering for a brief moment, he looked up at the middle-aged Headmaster and smiled.

"Then I'll humbly accept my new role... And I won't let down you down, sir." Orion declared before stepping back.

"I believe you won't... It looks like things are shaping up to be an... interesting year." The Headmaster commented to himself as he watched Orion meet up with his friends to talk about the big news.

* * *

And that's all for Chapter Four. So Orion has got himself into a Team… Sort of. So what adventures will he have supporting a group of misfits like Team RWBY? Find out in my next Chapter! Also, please remember to review this chapter to help me improve my writing.


	5. Chapter 5- The Lesson and The Revelation

Chapter 5- The Lesson and The Revelation

(Morning- Orion's Dorm)

"Phew... Good thing I woke up early today." Orion said, putting on the dark tanned vest of his new school attire. It was the day after the Initiation test and he was almost done getting ready to get some breakfast. He had spent his previous night unpacking his haversack of his belongings, which was quite little compared to how much luggage most of the other students had brought with them. Once he was done unpacking, he had foregone using the bed and went to sleep in his bed roll.

At this point, he took a good look around the dormitory he was currently residing in. The room was quite spacious, despite the four beds occupying a third of it. Each bed was situated in the different corners of the room, along with a small wall cupboard and bookshelf. "Hah... Eventually, I won't be only one living in this room. I sure hope that there will be more people coming to join the Support roster soon..."

He was about to take his leave for class when he stopped to look back at his cupboard. Walking back to his cupboard, he opened it and fished out his dark brown cloak. As much as he wanted to think he didn't need it for classes, he somehow couldn't bring himself to leave behind the cloak which had been pretty much a part of him for so long. Wearing his cloak over his uniform, he felt a little more at ease before finally leaving the room for breakfast.

* * *

(Morning- First Class)

After quickly having breakfast in the mess hall, Orion immediately made his way to class, with the help of a map of the school he had gotten the day before. Stepping into the lecture room, he found he was the only one there... That was, of course, not including the rather potbellied teacher seated at the front desk.

"Ah, how wonderful! A student who's an early bird like me!"

"Umm... Good morning, sir. This is the class being taught by Professor Peter Port, right?" Orion asked the elderly man.

"Right you are, lad! I am indeed Professor Peter Port! And you must be Orion, the new student in the Support roster! Ah, you made quite a showing during the initiation yesterday! Especially the way you tore through that horde of Grimm by yourself! Reminds me of myself from a long time ago..." He answered before continuing to ramble on about his past

"He he... Yeah... So I guess I'll just take a seat then." Orion said before taking a seat at the far end of the second row of benches, a little embarrassed by the way the professor was praising him. He took out his notebook and began doing a little sketching of the lecture room itself while waiting for the rest of the class to arrive.

The room itself seemed to be rather personalized with various decorations. The walls had decorated with the heads of different Grimm, which he assumed to be replicas. The reason he knew that was due to the fact that Grimm, once killed, would simply disintegrate and fade back into darkness and so it would be impossible to keep them around, much less mount them on the walls like a hunter's trophy. Hanging from one of the wall frames was a rather unique-looking Blunderbuss. The weapon stock itself had been fitted with a large axe head, giving it its wielder an alternative melee weapon.

By the time he was done sketching, most of students had already trickled into class and took their seats... All except Team RWBY, who hadn't arrived yet. Looking up at the wall clock, it was already 8.55am.

"If Ruby and the others don't arrive in the next five minutes, they are most definitely going to be late... That's going to leave a bad impression on the teachers." He sighed as he watched the minutes go by.

Fortunately, the four of them slipped through the doors with barely a minute to spare, taking their seats in the unoccupied front row just as Professor Port was about to begin.

"Well now, I see everyone is accounted for... Let's begin our lesson, shall we?" The elderly professor said as he got up from his desk and walked to the front of the class.

"Monsters! Deeeemons... Prowlers of the night! Yes, the creatures of Grimm have many names, but I merely refer to them as **prey**! Ha-ha!" Professor Port tried to start his lesson off with a little joke, but was met with cricket-filled silence from the class as no one found it even remotely funny.

Changing the subject in hopes of breaking the silence, he continued his grand lecture on the four kingdoms, the purpose of his class as well as the reason for becoming Huntsmen and Huntresses. However, even that didn't change the mood of the class, especially when he started to diverge from the subject with his own personal tale from his youth, which sounded a little too far-feteched.

Orion, not really paying attention to the story, was more focused on what was written on the whiteboard behind the professor. Each of the boards had detailed descriptions on the various Grimm, including details on their weaknesses and tactics on how to combat them.

"I guess the saying is true... You really can't judge a book by its cover. His story may be sketchy at best... but judging from the notes on the board, he does have a wealth of experience under his belt..." Orion muttered to himself as he nearly finished taking down notes.

Once he was done, he noticed Ruby doodling on a piece of paper while the professor continued rambling on about his life story. She showed her teammates and Orion what she had drawn. It was a silly drawing of a large round ball with limbs and a head, with a little nickname on the side saying: "Professor Poop". Orion stifled a laugh when he realized what she was referring to, while Yang and Blake giggled at her doodle. However, Weiss wasn't even remotely amused at it. In fact, Orion was starting to notice her annoyance at her leader's act.

Fortunately, it seemed the elderly professor was about to wrap out his story.

"The moral of this story? A true Huntsman must be honorable...! A true Huntsman must be dependable...! A true Huntsman must be strategic, well-educated and wise!" The professor continued, not noticing Ruby pulling off one ridiculous antic after the other while her white-haired partner was getting increasingly infuriated at her leader's behaviour

She seemed about ready to exceed her tolerance level, when Professor Port asked the class a single question.

"So, who among you believe themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?

"I do, sir!" Weiss nearly shouted when she answered while raising her hand, startling Ruby for a second.

"Well then, let's find out!" Professor Port said, gesturing to the steel cage that was in the corner of the room. The trapped creature, whose form was shrouded in shadow, began thrashing about inside the cage, its glowing red eyes, watching the class intently.

"Step forward and face your opponent!" Professor Port said to Weiss, motioning her to step up to the front of the class.

* * *

(Morning- First Class [Several minutes later])

Weiss had obtained permission from the professor to retrieve her combat gear, soon returning to class in her combat outfit with her weapon swinging from her hip. She drew out her rapier and readied herself for combat, while the rest of Team RWBY were cheering her on from their seats in the front row.

"Goooo, Weiss!" Yang shouted, raising her fist in the air

"Fight well!" Blake exclaimed while waving a little flag with the name RWBY on it.

"Yeah, represent teeeeam RWBY!" Ruby yelled in excitement, earning a look of irritation from Weiss.

"Ruby! I'm trying to focus!" Weiss yelled back at her leader in annoyance, which made Ruby tone down her excitement.

"Oh, um... Sorry..." Ruby apologized with a sheepish look on her face.

"Allllright!" Professor Port announced, standing by the cage with his Blunderbuss-Axe in hand. "Let the match... begin!"

The professor, with his axe in one hand, swung down and broke the cage's lock, dropping the cage door and revealing a Boarbatusk inside. The Boarbatusk immediately charged out of the cage and straight at Weiss. Using her rapier Myrtenaster, she managed to deflect its attack and swiftly rolled to the side, readying herself for the Grimm's next move. The boar Grimm kept its distance from her, closely studying her every move.

"Ha-ha! Wasn't expecting that, were you?" The professor remarked.

"Hang in there, Weiss!" Ruby shouted.

Weiss, taking the initiative, sped towards the Boarbatusk who charged straight at her, attempting to thrust her blade into its skull and kill it in one strike.

However, upon contact with each other, Myrtenaster became lodged in the beast's tusks. The Boarbatusk began tossing Weiss around while she hung on to her weapon for dear life, struggling to pull her rapier free.

"Bold, new approach. I like it!" Professor Port commented.

"Come on, Weiss, show it who's boss!" Ruby cheered.

Weiss glared angrily at Ruby, causing her to lose her focus and allowing the Boarbatusk to twist its head and rip the sword out of her grip. Weiss' Myrtenaster landed far away with a clatter, while she herself was knocked back by the creature's tusks.

"Oh-ho! Now what will you do without your weapon?" The professor asked rhetorically.

Looking up just in time to see the Boarbatusk to charge again, Weiss rolled out of the way just in time to avoid getting trampled, causing it to crash into a desk. Not missing this chance, Weiss rushed toward her sword, sliding across the ground as she grabbed it.

Orion immediately recalled what he had learnt from fighting Grimm during his journey. "Ruby... here's a question for you. Are Grimm completely covered in armor?" He whispered to her from his seat, giving her a few seconds to think of a response when something clicked in her mind.

"Armor... Oh, Weiss! Go for its belly! There's no armor underneath-" Ruby tried to advise her white-haired partner, but was interrupted with a fierce look from Weiss.

"Stop telling me what to do!" Weiss shouted back in anger and causing Ruby to keep quiet from that point, clearly hurt by Weiss' rebuttal.

At the same moment, the Boarbatusk used one of its signature moves, leaping into the air and rolling into a ball, which started spinning rapidly in the air. When the Grimm had landed on the ground, it began to pick up speed til it had enough momentum to launch itself like a cannonball at Weiss.

When it was nearly upon her, Weiss immediately activated one of her blue-white glyphs and managed to block the roll, causing it to reel back from the impact and fall on its back. Weiss saw an opening to attack and quickly leaped up into a now-black snowflake glyph that appeared in the air. Once it turned blue, she was launched at the Boarbatusk with near-blinding speed, driving Myrtenaster into the Boarbatusk's stomach. The boar Grimm squealed in agony before falling silent from the mortal wound dealt by Weiss, who was gasping in relief.

"Bravo! Bra-vo! It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true Huntress-in-training!" Professor Port announced as Weiss stood up at attention, clearly exhausted from the fight.

"I'm afraid that's all the time we have for today. Be sure to cover the assigned readings, and... stay vigilant! Class dismissed!" Professor Port declared before packing his teaching materials to head to his next class for the day.

Once the professor had left, Weiss glared at Ruby with a enraged look before turning away and storming out of the class without a word.

"Sheesh, what's with her?" Jaune asked the other members of Team RWBY, who looked at each other with the same question in mind.

"Having a bad day, perhaps?" Orion wondered.

"I don't really know... But I intend to find out." Ruby said to the rest before dashing out of class to chase down the white-haired heiress.

"I'd better go too. Something tells me that things might get messy between them." Orion told them as he got up from his seat.

"Hey Orion, you think we could tag along? You know... As backup or something?" Yang asked

"Hmm... For now, I think it's better not to. If too many people get involved, this situation with Weiss might escalate out of proportion..." Orion replied before leaving the class as well.

* * *

(Morning- After Class)

Once he left the class, Orion did his best to chase after Ruby and Weiss through the corridors in the academy. However, by the time he had almost caught up to them, he hear Weiss yelling and quickly hid himself behind the nearest wall, peeking out from around the corner as he listened in to their argument.

"That's just it! You've done nothing to earn your position! Back in the forest, you acted like a child, and you've only continued to do so!" Weiss yelled at Ruby, who looked a little hurt from her words.

"Weiss, where is this coming from? What happened to all the talk about 'working together'? I thought you believed in acting as a team." Ruby asked her angry partner.

"Not a team led by you. I've studied and trained. And quite frankly, I deserve better." The heiress answered before turning away from the redheaded teen.

"Ozpin made a mistake." She declared before walking away, leaving Ruby alone in the corridor. Orion could tell that Ruby was about ready to start crying and stepped out of hiding to speak with her.

"Ruby...Are you okay?" Orion asked.

"*Sniff* I'll be fine, Orion. But... *sniff* I really don't know what I should do..." Ruby replied, tears welling up in her silver eyes as she looked down at her shoes.

"Hmm... Now that didn't seem to go very well." A familiar voice spoke, startling the both of them. They both turned around to face Professor Ozpin, who was standing behind them with a mug of coffee in one hand and his signature cane in the other.

"Professor Ozpin... How long have you been standing there?" Orion asked curiously.

"... Long enough to know most of what's happened." The headmaster answered with a slight grin on his face.

"Is she right? Did you make a mistake?" Ruby asked the professor, wiping away the tears in her eyes.

"That remains to be seen." Professor Ozpin replied, chuckling slightly before turning to Orion.

"Young man, I would like to spend a few minutes to speak with Miss Rose here. You may move on to your next class."

"Umm... All right, sir." Orion said before turning to Ruby. "Ruby, you don't have to worry about Weiss. I believe she'll come around eventually."

"Oh... and before I forget, I'd like to have a word with you once your evening classes are over, Orion... I'll be waiting in my office." Professor Ozpin told him before letting Orion be on his way.

* * *

(Evening- In a certain corridor in Beacon Academy)

Orion had just finished his last class for the day and was heading to the headmaster's office when he knocked into someone while turning down a corridor. This caused them both to tumble over one another, with Orion falling flat on his back and the other person sprawled on top of him.

"Oof! Oh, sorry about that..." He said as he tried to get up from under that person.

"Argh...! Can't you watch where you're going?! Oh great... It's you!" A voice yelled at him... A very familiar female voice, to be exact. As he looked down, he immediately recognized the person dressed in white. It was Weiss of all people!

Orion quickly slid out from underneath Weiss and got to his feet. Extending his hand to her, he helped her back to her feet before beginning to dust himself for a few seconds.

"Hmph! Watch where you're going next time!" Weiss said before walking off with a slight limp.

"Wait! Weiss, I need to talk to you!" Orion called to her as he went after her.

"Do you mind leaving me alone?!" Weiss sternly warned him as she walked, not even looking back to speak to him.

"No! You need to stop and hear me out!" Orion said as he zipped past the white-haired heiress and stood in her path.

"Out of my way!" Weiss yelled at him, but he was determined to get her to listen.

"No... I'm not moving an inch till we've talked!" Orion argued as he continued to block her way.

"Argh... Fine! What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" She said with a frown.

"Look... Ever since our first class with Professor Port, you've been acting rather irritable, especially with Ruby. Tell me... Why are you so mad, especially at Ruby?"

"Why are you even sticking your nose into my business anyway?! If I recall, you're not even a part of this team! This should be no concern of yours!" Weiss directed the question back at him, hoping he would stop prying into her affairs.

"That may be... But as you should have remembered, I was appointed to support Team RWBY in every way possible. That includes helping the team with problems like this. So I ask again... what has got you so worked up and troubled?" Orion answered with a concerned look on his face..

"You really want to know? Fine, I'll tell you. I think I should have been the leader of team RWBY!"

"That's all? All your anger and frustration being directed at Ruby... All of it was because you felt you deserved to be team leader?" Orion questioned her.

"Well, of course it is! I've spent my time studying and training... All for the sake of becoming one of the best in this profession! Being Team Leader would've given me the opportunity to prove that. And now that chance was given to someone who I believe is less deserving of it... Ruby of all people!" She stated, taking a deep breath before continuing.

"From the moment she started here, she hadn't done anything to prove that she deserved the role. Even in Professor Port's class this morning... I could've performed better if Ruby hadn't broken my concentration with her annoying advice. I don't understand why Professor Ozpin would just blindly pass the leadership role to Ruby when everyone can see how exceptional I am?!" She argued back, causing Orion to ponder for a couple of seconds on his next choice of words to counter her statement.

"Weiss... Your skills as an individual combatant may indeed be exceptional. But the same can't be said when it comes to **your** attitude towards others." Orion replied, emphasizing on her behaviour.

"What?! HOW DARE YOU-" She shouted, clearly seething with anger.

"Proving my point exactly. I know for a fact that as heiress of the Schnee family, you've spent your entire life getting exactly what you wanted... All of which being handed to you on a silver platter. Am I wrong?"

"That's not even remotely true!" She defiantly stated, turning her head away with her arms crossed. Her short reply only made Orion raise an eyebrow.

"If you can't even look me in the eye when you say that, it means you're not being completely truthful with me. So tell me honestly... Are you so certain that what I've said is wrong?" He asked Weiss, who was starting to feel a little uncertain at her choice of words.

"Well... It's not entirely true." She said a little more honestly, glancing at Orion for a few seconds and quickly turning away when he noticed her looking at him.

'At least she's starting to be more honest with herself.' Orion thought before speaking again.

"Now listen... I understand. You're just upset that in the end the result didn't fall in your favour. But that doesn't mean you can simply take out your frustrations on others, especially Ruby."

"Why'd you bring her up? I don't understand why you're even defending her. She hasn't done anything-" Weiss brought up, but was interrupted by Orion.

"Exactly. She hasn't done anything yet to prove herself. But you must remember, it's only been a day. You can't expect her to become a great leader overnight. It takes time to improve one's leadership skills... as I'm sure you would know." He pointed out to Weiss before continuing his explanation.

"... Ruby might not be experienced enough to be a good leader, but I believe she's willing to give it her best shot... That being said, she also needs the support of her teammates, including you. A strong team isn't built on the individual skills of each person... but on the mutual trust that people have in one another. So instead of trying to become the best leader for this team... You should strive to be the best person in order to give Ruby the support she needs." Orion advised.

"I guess... I guess you have a point. Perhaps I may have overreacted a little... And wasn't really thinking rationally. In any case, I guess I should thank you for telling me all this." Weiss said, a little humbled by his words.

Orion simply smiled before giving his reply. "It's all right. I'm just doing what feels right to me. Now I believe there's a certain team leader who could use your support now more than ever..."

After biding her goodbye, Orion remained in the corridor as he watched Weiss head to the dorms.

"*Sigh*... I hope this will help resolve the issue between those two. Now... Let's see what Headmaster Ozpin wants with me." Orion muttered to himself before continuing on his way to Professor Ozpin's office.

* * *

(Evening- In the Elevator to Professor Ozpin's office)

"Professor Ozpin had been expecting you for a while now. It is rather rude to have kept him waiting for you." Professor Goodwitch lectured Orion as they waited for the elevator to stop at the Headmaster's office.

"I'm sorry for being late. I got a little held up along the way here." Orion apologized to the blonde professor.

"*Sigh* Just don't ever be late again if Professor Ozpin calls for you... We've arrived, so look sharp." Professor Goodwitch said as the elevator doors opened.

Stepping off th elevator, he took a good look around the Headmaster's office. His office was located at the top of Beacon Academy's large antique clock tower... so it was not surprising to see the office outfitted with numerous chrome-colored gears and cogs which keep the clock tower running.

"Wow... This office is amazing. I heard that Beacon's clock tower was as ancient as it was grand, but I never imagined-" Orion said aloud, taking

"Ahem! Mr Orion, if you could please refrain from spending your time admiring the decor..." The blonde professor said, starting to grow impatient with him.

"It's quite all right, Glynda. It's not everyday I meet a student that appreciates the beauty of historical relics." Professor Ozpin said to his assistant, all the while sitting in his office high-back chair and sipping from a mug of coffee in his hand.

"Oh... My apologies, Professor Ozpin. Umm... Was there something you wanted to speak with me about?" Orion asked the headmaster as he stood in front of the Headmaster's desk.

"Yes, young man. There are several topics would like to speak with you about. First of all, it's regarding your registration for enrolling here. When I gave you the opportunity to enroll into this school, you chose to register yourself under an alias. Are you sure you wish to continue studying here under that name?" The headmaster asked him with a curious look.

"Yes, I would like to continue using the name I gave: Orion Skyes. I don't want people to treat me differently if they ever were to find out my real name..."

"I see... Then, I shall move on to the next topic. This is concerning the Support Initiative. As I stated in my speech yesterday, you are the Support Initiative's first member and its honorary leader. After we had announced this to the public yesterday, we've received news that many graduates from the various combat schools have shown interest in our new policy..." Professor Ozpin explained to him.

"Well... One would think that this would be a golden opportunity to enroll into Beacon... especially for those whose applications weren't successful." Orion commented.

Professor Ozpin smiled a little before continuing. "Exactly. Earlier this afternoon, one of our newest applicants had underwent the Initiation test we had in place for enrolling under the new policy... and was the first to succeed. So from now on, she will be in your care..."

"Oh, so a new member was added to the roster? Who is she?"

"It'd better if she introduced herself. Glynda, would you mind bringing her here?" The grey-haired headmaster said to Professor Goodwitch, who sighed before making her way to the elevator.

After a good five minutes of waiting, the elevator returned with Professor Goodwitch and a certain person wearing a brown shoulder-coat and hood, which partially covered her face. The stranger made her way next to Orion while the blond professor returned to her original position beside the headmaster.

"Umm... Hello, it's nice to meet you. I'm Orion Skyes-" Orion said, extending his hand to welcome the newcomer

"No... Your real name is Orion Phynix, isn't it?" The individual said, making him reel back in shock. How did she know who he really was?

"W-What? You must be mistaken. My name is-" He answered, startimg to lose a little of his composure.

"There's no mistake. You're Orion Phynix of the Phynix family." She interjected, causing him to step back in surprise.

"After all... How could I ever mistake my own family?" She said, taking off her hood to reveal her face. The person had long bluish hair with bangs, her fringe partially covering her face. She had freckles dotting her cheeks and wore a pair of spectacles with a brown-colored frame. Her eyes were a deep shade of blue while her complexion was slightly pale like Orion's.

Orion stood dumbfounded as he looked at the very familiar person standing before him.

"S-Safyre?! Is that you?!" He uttered out loud in surprise.

"It's been a while hasn't it, Big Brother?" She answered, a wide grin on her face.

* * *

Chapter Five is done! A new revelation in Orion's school life. How will Orion cope with his studies now that his little sister has joined him? Find out on my next chapter! Also, remember to read and review, because any feedback is welcomed.


	6. Chapter 6- The Training

Chapter 6- The Training

" _In order to facilitate with the induction of new members to the Support initiative, members will be working together in pairs… Therefore, you'll be working with Miss Safyre here in order to bring her up to speed. I assume you don't have any problems with this arrangement?" Ozpin questioned him._

* * *

(Beacon Academy Training Arena- 12:15pm)

"No problem... I hope..." Orion thought to himself as he recalled the conversation he had with Professor Ozpin a day ago. Pushing those thoughts aside, he continued preparing himself for a little combat practice. He was currently standing in the middle of the training arena, which the school had for students to spar against training drones or each other, with his weapon drawn in bow form. "Training System now setting up room for... Arena Target Practice. Objective: Elimination of Moving Target Drones..." A monotonous voice echoed throughout the room.

"Phoebus' energy levels... Reading fully charged." Orion whispered to himself as he continued to check his weapon.

"Activating Arena Defense Dome... For the safety of the audience... Please remain seated behind the protection of the Hardlight-projected dome." The speakers announced as the entire arena was immediately enclosed in a large, bluish transparent dome.

"Beginning training program... Please standby."

Orion slowed his breathing while he rested two of his fingers on the bowstring.

"3... 2... 1... Begin!"

The first wave of drones came hovering into view and began flying in a circular pattern. Each were moving at random speeds in different directions, adding variables to the training session. The training drones were actually Atlesian H-010 hover-drones, redesigned for the purpose of adding the element of live firing during target practice. Each drone was equipped with a Holo-Target board that was designed to shut down the drone when it took a hit... and a mini-laser that was set to stun upon body contact.

Orion quickly got to work, firing several translucent arrows that took out two of the targets with deadly accuracy. The others immediately retaliated with laser fire, but most had missed their mark as Orion had made a break for it by running through the gap he made in their formation. The drones altered their flight path and began to chase him all around the arena, firing their lasers as they went.

As he ran alongside the arena's curved wall, he narrowly ducked and weaved through the storm of lasers while returning fire with volleys of arrows.

After a minute or so, there were only three drones still active in the air. An idea immediately struck him and he began running straight up along the surface of the wall, before leaping off it and executing a backflip over the hovering drones. As he made his descent, he fired three consecutive shots at the remaining drones, hitting their marks precisely and taking them down in an instant.

Orion made a fairly decent landing before watching the drones hit the ground with a loud thud. He quickly checked himself of any injuries, finally taking notice of the many burn marks on his sleeves and cloak. He sighed in disappointment before looking at the holo-display above him, which showed the time he took to complete that round.

"4 minutes 56 seconds... Would you like to end this train-"

"Repeat training program." He announced out loud.

"Acknowledged. Resetting training room floor for: Arena Target Practice..."

(Beacon Academy Training Arena- 1:00pm)

"So now that lunch is out of the way... How about we all head to the training room for a little workout before the next class?" Yang suggested to her teammates as they left the school cafeteria. "Keeping ourselves in shape is important... Don't you think so, girls?"

"Seriously? Yang Xiao Long, we just ate our lunch not more than 10 minutes ago... The last thing I plan on doing is overexerting myself over a little training session, especially right before class!" Weiss argued back with a little exaggeration.

"All right, Drama Queen... You can sit this one out with Ruby while watching me and Blake duke it out then!" Yang replied, emphasizing on the nickname for their resident heiress.

"Humph! Fine by me then." Weiss pouted with her arms folded across her chest.

Team RWBY, with a slightly reluctant Weiss in tow, soon arrived at the training room to start their own self-training when they noticed Orion in the arena, already in the midst of his own training.

"Aw... It looks like someone beat us to the training room..." Yang commented as the group slowly approached the edge of the arena.

"How long do you think he's been in there?" Ruby wondered out loud, as she watched him trading volleys with the numerous training drones. "He looks way too exhausted to have only just started..."

Her other team mates, who had no idea either, merely shrugged or shook their heads.

"... He's been in there for at least 45 minutes..." The four nearly jumped out of their skins when they heard a voice behind them. They immediately turned around to see a bluish haired girl, who looked about Ruby's age, sitting on one of the benches behind them. Dressed in the school's uniform, she also wore a pair of brown spectacles that sat on her nose ridge, giving her a rather studious look.

The blue-haired girl got up from her seat and walked up next to the group as she continued to watch Orion fight against the drones.

"This is the ninth time he's repeated this training program. Not only that, he's also raised the level of difficulty each time he's finished. He's currently tackling the hardest setting this program has to offer." She said as they watched Orion narrowly dodging the storm of lasers, most missing him by a few millimeters.

"Nine times... And at this difficulty? I'm surprised he hasn't collapsed yet." Blake commented, as they notice his movements beginning to slow down. His slower speed allowed the drones to fire more accurately, one of which managing to inflict some damage to his right arm.

"Ouch... That one looked like it hurt!" Yang said as he got backed into a wall, all the while trying to defend against the torrent of lasers using the shield on his uninjured arm. "Wait, shouldn't the damage from that last shot have been absorbed by his aura?"

"... His aura was depleted after the sixth round. He hasn't even stopped for a break to replenish his aura..." The blue-haired girl told them, their expressions turning from surprise into that of shock and disbelief.

"That's crazy! Without any aura protecting him, those lasers could prove fatal. We need to stop it now!" Yang exclaimed, quickly rushing towards the arena control panel to stop the program but her path was cut off by the blue-haired girl, who gave her a reassuring smile.

"Don't worry, the look in his eyes says he can still pull off a victory... Have a little faith in him." She said with great confidence before turning back to the arena. The members of Team RWBY looked at one another in confusion before looking back towards Orion.

"Right... Let's end this!" Orion muttered out loud before switching his shield to bow form. As if unaffected by the injury to his right arm, he quickly got into his standard firing position. The feather-shaped segments of the bow, which were previously closed up, immediately unfolded like a paper fan, a cloud of hot air began venting out from the gaps between them.

"Energy Dampeners... Disengaged." Locking his fingers onto the bowstring, he pulled it back as far as he could. As he did so, large amounts of orange flame-like energy began gathering at the head of the bow into a sphere of condensed energy. He pointed the sphere at the cluster of drones, making sure to aim at the center of the group.

On the other hand, the drones continued to fire upon him. Most of their lasers were immediately absorbed into the energy sphere, causing it to build in size. The remaining shots had managed to graze him in numerous locations, but he appeared unaffected from taking those hits.

"Take this!" He yelled before releasing the taut bowstring and sending the large sphere of energy hurtling towards the drones at high velocity. When the sphere made contact with one of the drones, it exploded into an enormous, swirling mass of flames which threatened to engulf the arena in its area of effect.

Ruby and her teammates had to shield their eyes from the blinding light of the explosion with their hands. Once they believed it was safe for then to put their hands down, they were shocked by what they saw.

Half of the arena was seared black from the fiery explosion while the drones inside had been fried to a crisp. The arena's fire safety system immediately kicked in, activating the fire sprinklers to put out any fires that remained.

Meanwhile, Orion, who was drenched from head to toe from the fire sprinklers, was leaning against the wall behind him, his fatigue and multiple injuries now wearing him down. He brushed his disheveled hair out of his eyes as he looked up at the large holo-display above to check his completion time.

"3 minutes 10 seconds... Would you like to end this training?"

"...End-" Before he could utter another word, he immediately collapsed from sheer exhaustion.

* * *

(Beacon Infirmary 1:15 PM)

"Is Orion going to be okay?" Ruby asked Professor Goodwitch, who had just stepped out of the infirmary.

"I assure you, Miss Rose , that there is nothing to worry about. Apart from the minor cuts and burns, he only collapsed due to over-exertion. Given he gets sufficient bed rest... He should be able to make a full recovery and be ready for class in a full day's time."

"Oh thank goodness! I was so worried! Thank you Professor Goodwitch!" She said happily, relieved to hear that Orion was all right.

"You're quite welcome. Now off to class with you, You'll be excused for your tardiness, but not if you don't get to class immediately. It is only a five minute walk to Professor Port's room from here, and I will check in to verify that you turned up, so don't think you will be able to get away with ditching his class."

"Yes ma'am!" Ruby said and quickly hurried to class. She dreaded having to listen to the boring lectures that Port conducted, but she reluctantly went to his class, fearing she would incur the terrifying wrath of the blonde professor. She left in such a hurry, she didn't notice Professor Ozpin walking in her direction as she zipped past him in a blur of rose petals.

"So... How is our patient doing?" Ozpin asked as he entered the room, sipping his coffee. "He's...fine, all things considered. The current diagnosis indicates that he has very few injuries, which is surprising... considering the state he was in when he was brought here. Despite his aura being depleted, his injuries seemed to have, strangely enough, vanished... As if they-" She paused to watch the sleeping Orion, noticing a small orange flame light up over the inch-deep cut on his face.

As the flame quickly spread over the cut, the wound itself began to close up till it disappeared, leaving behind a completely smooth cheek where the cut should have been. "- Healed themselves, leaving no traces."

Ozpin raised an eyebrow upon witnessing that scene. "Interesting... Healing Flames, eh? With an ability like that, it is no wonder he seems much sturdier than he looks. It would be as if the events of today had never happened." He said, taking another sip of coffee from his signature mug.

Professor Goodwitch cleared her throat before facing the headmaster with a serious look in her eyes. "But they most certainly did. A single student being admitted to the infirmary for major injuries and the training arena under repair due to fire damage. Perhaps it would be best if I had a nice, long chat with this young man about trying to bite off more than he can chew. We can't have him on missions if he continues to overtraining and getting injuried in the process."

"True... But as I seem to recall, you were once like that as well. Young, bold... and if I might add... a tad reckless." He said, taking one more sip from his mug. As much as he enjoyed teasing the blonde discipline mistress about her youth, he wanted to avoid the death glares coming from her.

After staring angrily at Ozpin for a good minute, she let out a sigh, deciding not to give in to the headmaster's little banter."Perhaps it's best if we took our leave and let the boy rest. There's a stack of forms in your office that demand your immediate attention, mostly regarding the repairs to the training room and the requisition for an additional set of training drones."

"... All right then. After you, Glynda." Ozpin said as they headed for the door, closing it quietly behind them as they left.

* * *

(Beacon Infirmary, 4:00 PM)

Since classes for the day were mostly over, Ruby decided to take the opportunity to drop by Orion at the infirmary first before heading to the school caferteria for dinner. But as soon as she had reached the door to the room he was admitted to, she could hear several voices coming from behind the door, which was left ajar. "Orion, perhaps you shouldn't be up and about right now. You're not exactly in a condition to be moving."

Fearing she might be interrupting something, Ruby quickly slipped through the open door unnoticed and hid herself under the infirmary bed opposite Orion's and quietly observed the conversation between Orion and the blue-haired girl she had met at the training arena.

"You worry too much, Safyre. I've gotten myself out of situations much worse than this-"

"All the more reason I should be worried! You were gone for almost a year... Only leaving a note saying you were going on a journey. How can you expect me, **your** little sister, not to be worried about you!?" The girl, who Orion called Safyre, yelled at him, tears starting to well up in her eyes.

A gentle expression spread across Orion's face as he walked up to her and gently wiped away the tears from her eyes with his hand. "I know... You're right... I'm sorry for not telling you and making you worry all this time. I had my reasons... But I promise you that I won't ever do it again."

"Really? *Sniff* You're not saying that just to make me feel better, right?"

"Of course! What kind of brother would I be if I can't keep a promise like that? Now, you should probably go and freshen up for dinner. It won't look good for you to turn up at dinner looking all teary-eyed like that, right?"

"What... *Sniff* about you?" Safyre asked him as Orion escorted her to the door.

"Me? I'm just going to get myself checked over by the doctor so he can let me leave. With any luck, I'll be out within the hour."

"All right, Orion. I guess I'll see you later at the cafeteria then. See you later!"

Orion continued waving to his sister till she was completely out of sight, before stepping back into the room and closing the door behind.

"Right then... You can come out now, Ruby. I know you're hiding under that bed." He annouced out loud, prompting her to come out of hiding.

"Hehe... What gave me away?" She said gingerly, scratching the back of her head.

"You left a pretty big trail." Orion pointed out, gesturing to the rose petals leading from the doorway to the bed she was hiding under.

"Umm... So, Orion... that person earlier was...?"

"My little sister, Safyre. She enrolled into Beacon yesterday under the Support Initiative too."

"Wow... What were the odds of her joining this school too?"

"The odds were relatively low... But then again, nothing is completely impossible. In any case, as part of the Team Support roster, she's been assigned to be Team JNPR's support member... So I think she'll be helping Jaune's team for a while." He answered her as they made their way out of the infirmary ward.

"I take it that you overheard most of our conversation back there?"

"Yeah... Sorry for eavesdropping on ya like that." Ruby murmured, with her head hanging low as she walked.

"I'm not angry, Ruby. But you shouldn't be doing stuff like that. It could get you into a lot of trouble." Orion told her.

"I know... I didn't mean to do that... I was just curious, that's all. Everyone hardly knows much about you, like what you like to do and stuff... You just seem so... so..."

"Distant from the others?" He said.

"Yeah! That's it! So maybe we could... you know... get to know each other a little better?" Ruby said with pleading eyes.

"Well... As much as I want to start going on and on about me, I'm afraid I have to meet the doctor for one last checkup before I leave." He replied as they stopped in front of the Doctor's office.

"Aww... Just when we were about to get started too..." Ruby said dejectedly.

"Maybe some other time... All right, Ruby?"

"Hmm... All right then, bye Orion!" Ruby said as she left for the school cafeteria, a slight skip in her steps.

Orion smiled as he watched her leave before facing the Doctor's office, muttering under his breath.

"Ruby... As much as I want to open myself up to others, there are still some things which are better left unsaid..."

* * *

There it is! Chapter 6! Sorry, I'd been loaded with a ton of work to think about starting. So, I hope this will make it up to everyone who are reading this. With my workload currently slowing down, I may have another chapter up within 2 weeks, so look forward to it! Also, please remember to Read & Review because all feedback is useful.


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